


PMD Explorers: Dreams in Darkness

by Herolich1



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda?, POV Third Person, Plot Twists, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-19 12:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29999322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herolich1/pseuds/Herolich1
Summary: When the Creation Trio disagree over how to save time, Giratina takes it upon himself to send a poor Pokémon to the dark future so they can have knowledge of what happens next. Little did he know that this would cause a massive domino effect.
Kudos: 3





	1. The Trio Create Terrible Ideas

**Author's Note:**

> **This story contains spoilers for all Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, most major of which being Explorers. You have been warned...**

_Team Galactic Time & Space Scanner_

* * *

Initializing ALPHA Timeline

...

Loading Complete!

Spatial stability: 100% Stable  
Temporal stability: 80% Stable

**Proceed with caution!**

* * *

For missing information read Alpha documents labeled:  
PMD: Explorers (TOP PRIORITY!)  
PMD: Rescue Team  
PMD: Gates to Infinity (Low priority)  
PMD: Super Mystery Dungeon (Low priority)

* * *

It has been a month since Giratina was released from his banishment to the Distortion Realm. He has been doing quite well and certainly changed for the better. One day however, he received a message from Dialga. The news wasn't good at all…

 _'Dialga's hold over time is getting weaker. What is he doing?'_ Giratina pondered. He could feel it, his power of anti-matter being made to balance out both space and time. So a sudden change in time would have an effect on the other two involved.

Giratina had been flying non-stop for the past hour to reach Temporal Tower. He knew his sister would be laughing at him when he arrived all tired out from the flight. He can't blame her, it's easy to laugh when you can just teleport wherever you need to go.

He pushed these thoughts aside as he approached the Sea of Time, starting to speed up to reach the Hidden Land.

The Hidden Land truly was something to behold. Not surprising, since it was the first 'land' mass created by the pantheon of Pokémon. And above it all floated Temporal Tower, the source of time itself. He did hold a bit jealousy towards his siblings, they both got special hidden landmasses while all he got was an endless void with wonky gravity and a messed up sky. Now was the point of getting to Dialga, who as always is sitting atop the tower.

A good thing about being able to fly is that he can just ignore every single Mystery Dungeon there, and instead head straight for the top of Temporal Tower, where his siblings are waiting for him.

'Dialga! What is o' so urgent that you need me AND Palkia here?' Giratina asked.

Dialga spoke up, being just as loud as Giratina remembered him being. 'LET ME EXPLAIN. LATELY, I'VE HAD THIS FEELING THAT I'M LOSING MY GRASP OVER TIME, AND MY MIND IS GETTING EVER MORE CLOUDED BY DARKNESS.'

Palkia, of course, then had to respond in a snarky manner. 'THAT'S ODDLY POETIC COMING FROM YOU DIALGA'

Unexpected to both of them, this made Dialga blow up sooner than ever before. 'I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR JOKES PALKIA!'

A little quake was felt through Temporal Tower. Something was definitely wrong.

Palkia immediately jumped back at Dialga's outburst. 'WOW! OKAY! SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WOULD EXPLODE LIKE THAT.'

Giratina knew the two would continue to bicker if he didn't say anything, so he decided to move this conversation back to the point. 'So, I'm assuming you called us here so we can prevent that?'

'YES.' Dialga confirmed, after having calmed down. 'PREVENT IT OR, IF NEED BE, REVERSE IT.'

Palkia nodded. 'SO, DO YOU HAVE A PLAN BROTHER?'

A grin seemed to form on Dialga's face before announcing his idea. 'I DO, INDEED, HAVE A PLAN! WHAT IF WE USE A LOOPHOLE TO…'

Before Dialga could finish, Giratina let out a roar. 'I'm going to stop you right there! I'm getting sick and tired of you two breaking your own rules and leaving the mess for me to clean up!'

This sudden outburst shocked the two dragon types, but they didn't have enough time to make a rebuttal before Giratina continued his mighty rant.

'Remember the last time you two made 'a loophole large enough for me to fly through'? It ended in such a disaster, that you two are responsible for the existence of Dark Matter!'

That last part made Palkia twitch and Dialga turn his head in shame. They did indeed almost bring about the end times, just because they felt that the Tree of Life looked a bit off.

Dialga, defeated, turned back to face his brother. 'FINE, WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE GIRATINA?'

'I say we should get a legendary hero involved.' Giratina started to explain. 'One strong enough to get rid of the cause of your weakening power.'

Palkia let out a growl. 'I OBJECT TO THAT! HOW CAN A RANDOM "LEGENDARY HERO" JUST FIX TIME LIKE IT'S NOTHING, WHEN DIALGA DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THE CAUSE?'

Giratina let out a sigh. 'That's not a good argument Palkia, and you know it.'

This comment really seemed to push Palkia over the edge. 'WANT A GOOD ARGUMENT? FINE! DO YOU REMEMBER THAT A WHILE BACK GROUDON AND KYOGRE WHERE AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS AGAIN?'

Giratina shook his head. 'No. And also, can you be a bit more specific?'

'HOW DIDN'T YO- OH WAIT, DISTORTION REALM. NEVER MIND.' Palkia said, a bit embarrassed.

Sometimes they do forget that for the majority of the time Giratina had spent in exile, he couldn't see anything from the old world. There was also the fact that conflicts between the legendary Pokémon of the land and the sea happened once every year.

Palkia decided to give Giratina a bit more context for this disaster. 'A WHILE BACK THEY WERE HAVING ONE OF THEIR 'LEGENDARY' WATER VERSUS EARTH ARGUMENTS, AND YOU KNOW HOW THOSE ALWAYS END. RAYQUAZA DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO PUT THEM IN THEIR PLACE FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, SO HE WENT TO JIRACHI TO REQUEST A MIGHTY, LEGENDARY HERO BE BROUGHT TO OUR WORLD TO FIX THIS MESS.'

'I still don't see how that went wrong.' Giratina responded.

Palkia was getting fired up again. 'THEN LET ME ASK YOU THIS BROTHER. WHO'S HELP WOULD YOU WANT, IF YOUR GOAL IS TO DEESCALATE A SITUATION?'

'Someone with a speech 100 skill?' Giratina said, a grin forming on his face.

That comment just left Dialga confused. 'WHA… WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?'

'HAHA, VERY FUNNY GIRATINA.' Palkia said sarcastically. 'BUT YOU ARE CORRECT. YOU WANT TO HAVE SOMEONE WHO CAN TALK TWO PARTIES DOWN AND MAKE THEM STOP FIGHTING. BUT THAT ISN'T WHAT RAYQUAZA ASKED FOR. NO, HE ASKED FOR "A STRONG WARRIOR WHO WOULD FIX THEIR MESS".'

He nodded, understanding where Palkia was going with this. 'How strong was this hero then?'

She stepped forward in a dramatic fashion. 'I'LL ANSWER THAT WITH A QUESTION.'

For this particular "question" Palkia made a portal to somewhere. She always liked giving visual examples to get her point across.

'I'VE JUST MADE A PORTAL TO MT EVERT. I WANT YOU TO TELL ME IF THERE'S SOMETHING MISSING.'

Giratina started to remember it. _'Ah yes, Mt Evert. Palkia's Hidden Land and location of her old Spatial headquarters, the Spatial Catacombs. Wonder why she's showing me this though?'_ He walked over to see what has happened there.

What Giratina saw through the portal made his heart skip a beat. 'The top… it's gone? When did that happen? How did that happen?!'

'THAT LEGENDARY HERO HAPPENED.' Pakia Angrily explained. 'THAT WAS HER HANDY WORK SHE CAUSED WHILE BEATING KYOGRE AND GROUDON INTO SUBMISSION.'

He glanced towards Palkia. 'And the Spatial Catacombs?'

She rolled her eyes. 'IT'S STILL HIDDEN, BUT THERE WAS A BIG CHANCE THAT IT COULD HAVE ENDED BADLY!'

Giratina nodded, not wanting to make Palkia explode. 'And after that?'

Palkia seemed to start fuming at some of the memories that had started to come back to her, so Dialga decided to explain the rest. 'I AND PALKIA MADE A PORTAL FOR THE LEGENDARY HERO AND TOLD HER TO LEAVE, AND RAYQUAZA COULDN'T FLY FOR A WEEK AFTER PALKIA WAS DONE WITH HIM.'

It took a bit for Palkia to calm down, but after she was done being angry at Rayquaza, she turned to her brother. 'STILL FEELING CONFIDENT IN YOUR IDEA?'

He let out a sad sigh. 'Fine, no legendary heroes then.' Giratina was a little bit disappointed with that. Legendary heroes, and certainly those from other worlds, where always a joy to watch as they completed their quest.

Palkia had yet to give an idea, so Dialga turned to his Spatial sister. 'PALKIA? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS?'

'I HAVE A GREAT ONE BROTHER, HOW ABOUT WE TAKE SOMEONE FROM THE FUTURE AND ASK THEM HOW TO FIX THIS?' Palkia looked really smug after saying that, like she had cracked the code.

Her Temporal brother wasn't a fan of the idea however. 'PALKIA, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! FIRST, WE DON'T KNOW IF IT'S EVEN POSSIBLE TO GET SOMEONE FROM THAT FUTURE, WITH TIME BEING AS UNBALANCED AS IT IS. SECOND, THE POTENTIAL OF MULTIPLE PARADOXES OCCURRING WOULD BE TOO GREAT OF A RISK TO ALLOW IT.'

This was becoming a cycle of one legendary giving a suggestion, getting shot down, and then repeat.

Giratina sighed. 'Point three is going to be another event that happened while I was in the distortion realm, isn't it?'

Dialga nodded 'CORRECT BROTHER. YOU SEE, A FEW MONTHS AGO A TERRIBLE ILLNESS OF UNKOWN ORIGIN WASHED OVER THE SHAYMIN TRIBE, MAKING IT A GUARANTEE THAT THE SPECIES WOULD DIE OUT BY NEXT WEEK. MEW AND CELEBI IMMEDIATELY GOT TO WORK, BUT HAD A HARD TIME FINDING ANYTHING. IT'S THEN THAT CELEBI DECIDED SHE WOULD ASK IN THE FUTURE FOR HELP.'

This is odd to hear, Giratina didn't think Celebi could screw up during time travel, yet it seems like Dialga is implying just that. 'What happened then?'

Dialga looked like he was trying to recollect some memories. '…IT IS HARD TO REMEMBER. TIME WAS GETTING REALLY MESSED UP BECAUSE OF CELEBI'S ACTIONS. AND IF IT WASN'T FOR SOME HEROES IN THE SKY CONTINENT, THE WORLD WOULD'VE ENDED.

Giratina wasn't surprised that the world could've ended multiple times over while he was exiled. He would've been surprised that his banishment would cause global peace or something like that.

Palkia was starting to get impatient, getting sick of all this inaction. 'SO… WHAT DO WE DO THEN?'

The three Dragons stood there for a bit thinking of ways to stop time from going all wonky. Then Giratina suddenly shot up with an exited face. 'I have an idea!'

Palkia chuckled before snarkily saying: 'AND WHAT IS YOUR GREAT IDEA, OH MIGHTY RENEGADE?'

Giratina ignored the snark and started to explain his idea. 'How about we get information about the future from a different timeline, which isn't connected to ours? It avoids paradoxes, doesn't cause mountains to blow up, and it can be done like that.'

Instead of looking impressed by Giratina's smart idea, Palkia and Dialga looked horrified, with the water type dragon being the first to voice her complaints. 'DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MANY RULES OF TIME AND SPACE NEED TO BE BENT IF YOU WANT TO PULL THAT OFF?'

'THIS WORLD ALSO REQUIRES US TO STAY HERE! IF I WHERE TO GO ON A SMALL TRIP TO AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, BOTH WOULD BE DOOMED!' Dialga added.

'First off, we don't have to leave, we get someone else to do it for us. Second of all, you two don't seem to mind bending the rules from time to time. What's so different here? Tell me please, why you two can just break any rule you want and I can't!' Giratina started to get loud towards the end, which barely ever happens.

Dialga started to growl before unleashing a Roar of Time which destroyed a pillar, after he "calmed down" he turned to his siblings. 'ENOUGH! I WON'T HEAR ANYMORE OF IT. BOTH OF YOU, BEGONE FROM MY TOWER!'

Palkia was getting sick of Dialga's attitude and decided that this simply wasn't worth her time. 'UGHH! FINE. I'M HEADING BACK HOME. LATER NERDS!'

Giratina wasn't planning on leaving just yet. 'Dial-'

'LEAVE!'

'I'll be leaving then.'

While flying away from Temporal Tower, Palkia Went up to Giratina. 'HEY… GIRATINA?'

Giratina was in a bad mood, but decided to hear his sister out on what she wanted to say. 'Yeah?'

'YOU DO REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN TELEPORT USING THE DISTORTION WORLD, RIGHT?'

'…'

Out of nowhere a portal to the Distortion World opened up and Giratina flew in immediately. He peaked out a little bit to ask Palkia if she wanted to say anything else.

Palkia waved that question away. 'NHAA, I JUST THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA FOR THE BOTH OF US TO LEAVE BEFORE MR. TIME GETS REALLY MAD.'

He nodded, agreeing that staying around Dialga any longer would not be a good idea. 'Good point, have a good day then.'

Palkia Waved to her brother as she flew into her own portal. 'YOU TOO!'

And with that, the Spatial and Renegade Pokémon left the Hidden Land.

* * *

On the beach near Brine Cave, a lone Mimikyu was sitting, waiting for someone to return. He didn't expect that someone to come from behind him, however.

The Mimikyu turned around, and ran to the gigantic figure that floated before him. 'Dad!'

Giratina hugged (or, atleast tried to hug) the ghost fairy type. 'Hello Mimikyu! Sorry to keep you waiting.'

After he was done hugging, Mimikyu noticed something about his dads tone. 'What happened while you were gone? You sound very unhappy.'

Giratina sighed. 'My siblings are being annoying, as usual.'.

Mimikyu sat down to listen to the rest of Giratina's tale of today. 'I give some good advice, and Dialga immediately tells me to f… leave. And Palkia shoots down my idea because of one, ONE, past incident.'

Giratina seemed dissatisfied with that fact, and thus his son tried to cheer him up, by convincing him to do his idea. 'But… do you need their permission to do it?'

Giratina wasn't expecting his son to ask that. '…No…'

'And is it very important?' Mimikyu continued.

'…Yes…' Giratina responded.

This made Mimikyu as he gave his bright idea. 'Then why not do it behind their back!'

This left Giratina Startled. He didn't expect his son would tell him to do the renegade thing of doing the plan despite everyone's wishes. Was someone giving him bad advice or something?

He decided to investigate 'Mimikyu?'

'Yes dad?' Mimikyu said.

'Who has been telling you this?'

Mimikyu jumped up again. 'You have! You always complain about aunt Palkia, uncle Dialga, and grandpa Arceus. And you always say things like 'If they're allowed to break the rules, then why don't I break a few.''

Giratina at first didn't like the idea that his son is adopting some of his more 'troubling' traits, but those thoughts where cast aside by the confidence his sons delivery gave him.

'You… are right Mimikyu.' Giratina said, to the delight of Mimikyu. 'I don't need their permission to stop the destruction of time! I'll do it, even if the llama has a problem with it!'

Seeing his dad look better after all that made Mimikyu's day. 'Yay!'

Giratina smiled to his son before announcing: 'Now, let's go home. It's getting very late.'

Mimikyu nodded. 'Yes dad.'

And with that, Giratina and his son returned home. Unwittingly, this would cause a domino effect no one could've predicted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus begins the tale of Dreams in Darkness.
> 
> I always liked the legendaries and wondered what they would do if they were a little more invested in the world and what happens in it. Biggest candidate being Giratina. He is one of the Creation Trio, yet all he does is protect some lousy treasure? Not this time!
> 
> I hope you look forward to the next chapters, and also, a review would be appreciated.
> 
> Oh also, I won't be checking for any minor mistakes in my Authors notes, because I think it isn't worth the time.


	2. New Arrivals at Dawn

After the whole debacle at Temporal Tower, Palkia was exhausted and somewhat annoyed at her temporal brothers attitude. She decided that, before she headed back home, she would visit the beach near Treasure Town. Treasure Town is one of the biggest towns on the Grass continent, and is home to the legendary Wigglytuff guild. But that's not why she went there. No, she went there to look at the bubbles the Krabby where blowing, the bubbles reflecting the light from the sun, making for a beautiful sight.

She grinned to herself 'This is why space is great, because without space, such views would never have existed.'

But her peaceful sightseeing was disrupted by the appearance of a time portal. She was not in the mood to deal with anything that had even a small connection to her brother. So she sent a wave of spatial power at the portal with a flick from her finger, disrupting the portal before it vanished with a flash of blue and purple particles of temporal and spatial energy.

'That takes care of that! Space is cooler than time, as always.' Palkia proudly proclaimed.

After an hour of watching the beautiful scene, the sun was starting to vanish and the Krabby's went home. With the bubble-show over, and her temper returned to normal, she decided to head back home to the Spacial Rift.

* * *

It's the next day and on the top off Sharpedo Bluff, a small Vulpix was standing, looking out over the sea. 'This time I will not chicken out. I will join the guild!' she said to herself.

This wasn't the first time that she has tried to join the legendary Wigglytuff guild, but every time she got near the guild, she got cold feet and retreated back home. This time would be different...

Before the Vulpix could leave however, she was greeted by a Kangaskhan that was going on a walk. 'Hello Rachel! Where are you going today?'

'Oh? Hi Gen.' Rachel responded. 'I'm going to try to join the guild again. I hope my Relic Fragment might give me the confidence to join.'

Gen, smiled and wished her the best of luck. Rachel returned the smile and gave a polite thanks, before resuming her sprint to the guild. She had her most prized possession with her, so this time she couldn't fail.

* * *

Rachel arrived at the entrance of the Wigglytuff Guild, which had a very imposing Wigglytuff on the top of the tent. It certainly was made to test the nerve of anyone who wanted to enter the guild. If someone wanted to join the guild, or even enter it for that matter, they needed to stand on the grate in front of the guild. It was an odd system, apparently used to identify outlaws trying to enter the guild.

Rachel, however, was doubtful. 'Well this is certainly the farthest I've ever gotten before running back home… but would they even accept a coward like me?'

But Rachel quickly pushed those thoughts away and became resolute. 'No. I refuse to be paralysed by this any longer! This is it. I have to steel my courage today.'

She then proceeded to stand on the gate.

From beneath the gate, someone started yelling, almost as if it were an alarm. 'Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!'

This was enough to make the Vulpix jump up in the air, but she tried to stand her ground…

The voice continued… 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

…She couldn't give up now, not after getting this far…

And the voice continued… 'The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!'

This was enough to make Rachel's resolve shatter like glass. She jumped away from the grate in a panic. 'Waah! That was too shocking!'

After the shock had settled down she took a small breath. 'Whew…' But the return to normality didn't make Rachel happy. '...I can't... I can't work up the courage to go in, after all... I told myself that this is the day, bu-'

Before she was able to finish talking to herself, something flew through the air and caused a loud impact near the beach.

Rachel jumped even higher than last time. ''OH MY ARCEUS! Wh-what was that?'

After she got over the heart attack she nearly had, she started to wonder if there was anyone present at the beach when the impact happened. 'I-is someone hurt? Or in danger? Oh what do I do, what do I do?'

Rachel was having a hard time making a decision about what to do about it. ''It-it could be dangerous if I went there. But what if someone's hurt? But what if I get hurt? Oh no, oh no…'

In the end, Rachel's curiosity won over her fear and she immediately sprinted towards the beach.

From behind one of the totem poles, a Zubat and a Koffing flew out of cover. The two had been shadowing Rachel after she told Gen about having her 'Relic Fragment' with her to give have more confidence. The two were looking to make a quick profit by stealing it from her.

Koffing turned to Zubat. 'So… should we go after the wimp? Maybe she has some valuables on her.'

Zubat shook his head and replied. 'No, everyone will be running to the beach to see what just happened. If we mug her there, we will be caught, and you remember what the boss said, right?'

Koffing gave his best 'remembering face' before answering Zubat's question. 'That he wouldn't be there to bail us out if we got caught again?'

'Exactly!' The Zubat almost screamed. 'Besides, the wimp might not even have anything on her. She just isn't worth our time.'

That could've been very well the case. Who knew what a 'Relic Fragment' even was? It could've been something completely useless. 'Very well then, let's go somewhere else.' Koffing said after thinking for a while.

And with that final decision made, Koffing and Zubat left the premises of the guild. It would've been foolish to just hang around the guild entrance looking all suspicious.

* * *

There were a lot of Pokémon from Treasure Town present on the beach, all looking for the point of impact. Some of the people Rachel did recognize, like the Keckleon brothers, Monaco the Marowak, Gen the Kangaskhan, and Clefable, of whom she didn't know the name.

Someone then approached from behind her. 'Ah, Rachel! Nice to see you.'

The voice belonged to Robert the Duskull, owner of Duskull Bank. He's Rachel's older brother, having been adopted by Rachels parents two years before she was born. It is Robert who helped her find the opening in Sharpedo Bluff that she has been using as a home ever since she had come to Treasure Town. It's not known how Robert makes a profit with Duskull Bank, but with that money he supports himself and Rachel.

Rachel smiled as she returned the greeting. 'Hey Robert. Do you have any idea what just happened?'

Robert chuckled, being a bit mysterious as always. 'Well, I was actually coming over here to tell everyone what I saw.'

This sentence caused the rest of the Pokémon to turn around to face Robert, all wanting to know what had happened.

Gen was the first of the group to speak. 'Well what did you see Robert?'

Robert gave a sly look. 'Well, you see. I was just flying around in the shade, minding my own business, when suddenly I saw something in the sky. It looked a bit like a portal or something like that.' Robert was enjoying the attention everyone was giving to his story.

'And what did you see?' Asked Monaco.

Robert rolled his eye at the interruption, but then got to the point. 'I saw a Pokémon falling out of that portal, straight into Beach Cave.'

The entire crowd was surprised at that, with Rachel being the first one to break the silence. 'Wait! Someone fell from the sky, straight into a Mystery Dungeon!?'

'That's what I said, yes.' Robert responded, starting to take the situation a bit more seriously. 'And I'm pretty certain that they are unconscious too. Who wouldn't be? It was quite a fall from what I saw.'

This caused the group to start murmuring with each other, asking things like 'Why?' or 'How?'. This murmuring was interrupted by Clefable making a shocking revelation. 'That Pokémon most likely doesn't have a SOS on hand, otherwise one of the Exploration Teams would already have arrived to deal with the problem. We need to get them out of there, or they'll end up a feral!'

This caused the arguing to go from soft to loud, with everyone arguing over what to do about this Pokémon.

While the arguing was taking place, Rachel's mind was jumping all over the place. She wanted to help this person, but she didn't know if she could do anything to help. She might just make it worse, with her inexperience dooming the both of them.

This conflict continued until someone suggested that they get the Wigglytuff guild to save this Pokémon, reminding Rachel of what she wanted to do, becoming an explorer. In that single moment, Rachel forgot the meaning of self-preservation and sprinted right to Beach Cave.

Gen was the first one to notice Rachel's bold action and ran right after her. 'Rachel! What are you doing!?' But it was already too late. Rachel was now stuck inside the Dungeon.

The group went from loud discussion to very loud panic. This Pokémon just went into a Mystery Dungeon without any supplies, equipment, or preparation.

The green Kecleon was the one to silence the crowd. 'Listen, if we all go in at once, then all of us will be stuck in there!'

Gen, still shocked by Rachel's rash action, wasn't happy with that, even if she knew that he was right. 'But what do we do then? Can Rachel survive that?'

Robert just glanced away, one of the few Pokémon to not jump into panic after what had happened. 'You people really underestimate her chances of getting out. I've know her the longest out of all of us, and even though she might be scared easily.' He stopped there for a moment and hid a smile while chuckled under his breath. 'Which I might have used to get a few laughs.' Clearing his throat, the Duskull continued with a determined look in his eye. 'she will keep on going till there's nothing more to give.'

Most Pokémon there didn't look convinced. Robert wasn't known to be a liar, and they knew that he and Rachel were family, but most Mons there also knew that Rachel wasn't the sturdiest when it came to being brave.

Clefable decided to break the silence. 'Well whatever happens, we're going to need my hospital equipment. Certainly for the Pokémon who fell into the dungeon, and maybe Rachel if she's…'

Before Clefable could finish, Gen interrupted. She wasn't convinced by Robert that everything would be fine. 'You better be right about Rachel, or you'll have something else coming!' As a mother, she had a natural caring instinct for all the Pokémon in Treasure Town, moming the citizens in the town a little bit too much sometimes.

Robert turned to the Kangaskhan with an unimpressed expression. 'I wouldn't be saying what I have said if I didn't believe it. She will be fine.'

The purple Keckleon decided that a call to action was needed, and started to speak up. 'Alright everyone, listen up! We need someone to go warn the guild about this, and we need some Pokémon to help Clefable get her equipment here. Am I clear?'

After a bit of silent discussion everyone agreed.

The Keckleon continued his call to action. 'Alright then. Robert, Monaco, you two will get the guild. Me, my brother and Gen will help Clefable get her equipment. Alright everyone, let's move out!'

And with that, the town started to move out.

* * *

**Beach Cave B1F**

While all that was happening on the outside of the Dungeon, inside it Rachel had stopped to catch her breath. While she was getting her bearings, she realised how big of a mistake she had just made. Not only was this Dungeon a nightmare because of all the water and water types, but also because she had no easy way of getting out of the Dungeon.

Rachel stood in silence while still regretting her actions. 'Why… why did I do that? I'm going to get myself killed like this, or worse…'

Rachel had no time to ponder about these issues however. She was now, for the first time in her life, inside an actual Mystery Dungeon, and getting out wouldn't be easy. Her priority list was simple, find the wounded Pokémon and reach the end of the dungeon. On the final floor should be a teleporter back to the entrance of Beach Cave.

Rachel was starting to calm down a bit. 'Deep breaths. You can do this.'

She had a hard time believing that herself.

As she started walking, she decided to inspect her surroundings. The dungeon itself comprised of a sandstone like floor and blue walls with bits of moss covering parts of it. There also were a lot of bodies of water all around her, however, even through the muddy, blue surfaces, she could tell that they weren't all too deep. She turned a corner through one of the hallways and found a Shellder and a berry. The Shellder noticed her presence and before she knew it the fight had begun.

The Shellder started it's attack using a Tackle, which Rachel Dodged without any issue. Rachel had to attack now that she had the chance. She had the choice between an Ember, a small flame which could burn Pokémon, but it would've had little effect on the water type. The other offensive option was Feint Attack which wasn't particularly effective, but was guaranteed to hit the Shellder and is more effective than Ember.

This strategizing however left Rachel wide open and the Shellder went for a normal attack. Rachel wasn't able to dodge this one, taking some damage.

This didn't stop Rachel however, who immediately after recovering used Feint Attack on the Shellder. She must have hit a weak spot, as this was enough to take the Shellder out. The Shellder proceeded to disappear in a cloud of blue smoke.

'That could've gone better' Rachel murmured to herself as she went over to grab the Berry. The berry in question was an Oran Berry, which could lessen the pain from wounds and even heal them a little bit. It wasn't a replacement for visiting the doctor for injuries however.

' _Not much, but it could come in handy.'_ She thought before going further through the dungeon. After a while of exploring she found the staircase. She had already looked throughout the entire first floor, yet there was no sign of the Pokémon.

Rachel swallowed a bit 'I hope I'll find that Pokémon on the next floor, and didn't just walk right past them…'

Despite her worries, she moved onto the next floor…

**Beach Cave Rest Spot**

The one thing Rachel didn't expect to find on the next floor was a Rest Spot, and that in Beach Cave of all places. Rest Spots often appear in very long dungeons, Which allows Exploration Teams to catch their breath for a bit, organize everything they have, and then continue forward. It got weirder as she noticed a natural source of light filling the room. Rachel soon found the answers to her many questions in the form of an injured Shinx that lay there out cold.

Rachel started to go on a mental tirade. _'That's odd, that Shinx must've been launched at high velocity to make a hole in the Dungeon. Now I wonder, will this spot now be permanent, or will the dungeon repair itself. There isn't a Kangaskhan statue here, so it isn't a fully functional Rest Stop…'_

The Shinx sudden spasm was enough to snap Rachel out of her Waterfall thoughts and back into reality.

' _I have to check if they're aright.'_ Thought Rachel, as she started to look for a heartbeat.

The rhythmic booms of the Shinx heart were enough confirmation for Rachel. She was happy that this Shinx was still among the living. She then started to look for any wounds, which weren't hard to find. The Shinx was covered in bruises and its fur was completely dirty.

Rachel started to worry about the condition the Shinx was in. 'This Shinx isn't dead, but I don't know if they will be able to wake up. What can I d…'

Then she pulled out the Berry in a stroke of genius. 'Oh wait a minute! I have a Oran Berry on me!'

She then proceeded to put the berry in the Shinx's mouth. It was a good thing that you didn't need to eat the berry to let the healing properties do their thing. This caused the Shinx to leave the world of the unconscious and enter the world of people who weren't knocked out. The Shinx suddenly yelped in a male voice and jumped up, nearly giving Rachel a heart attack.

The Shinx seemed very lost on closer inspection, and soon enough he fell back to earth, the wounds being too much for him to be able to stand.

Rachel was very cautious of this strange Pokémon, but she knew that the Shinx would need her help to get out of here. 'Hey… just a tip. If you want those wounds to not weigh you down, you might want to eat the berry.'

He hadn't noticed the Berry until Rachel pointed it out. He looked hesitant for a moment, but then proceeded to consume the rest of the Oran Berry

'So, do you feel any beter?' Rachel asked with a patient smile.

'…A little bit…' The Shinx responded weakly.

Rachel gave a weak laugh at that response. 'Yeah, you're going to have to visit the hospital after we get out…' Rachel didn't feel confident in the chances this Shinx had to survive in Beach Cave. 'Just give it a bit of time to heal, then you should at least be able to move.' Normally staying still in a Mystery Dungeon is just asking for trouble, but seeing as this Shinx made his own Resting Spot, it was less of a problem.

One of the biggest rules in exploring a Mystery Dungeon was that you and the person you were traveling with had to have 100% faith and trust in each other, otherwise it could end in disaster. Because of this, Rachel decided to start a conversation with the Flash Pokémon. 'So, how did you end up here?'

She had figured that starting off with a simple question would be fine. The opposite was true however, as the Shinx seemed to have trouble recalling something. Eventually, he spoke again. 'I… have no idea…'

Rachel didn't like the implications of that. 'How much do you remember?' She proceeded to ask.

The Shinx tried once more to give an answer. 'I… I…' But the Shinx couldn't even finish before he started to panic as he failed to recollect anything about himself. 'I have no idea!'

'Please calm down!' Rachel almost screamed, startling the poor Shinx. Rachel immediately felt bad for that and sat down again. 'I'm sorry. I lost my temper there. Please tell me, what do you remember?'

The Shinx was still shaking, both from the realization that he didn't know who he was, and Rachel's sudden outburst. But he got a hold of himself and succeeded in remembering something.

'I remember… my name…' He almost whispered.

Rachel leaned in a bit. 'And your name is?'

The shinx took a second before giving an answer. 'My name… is Tristian.'

Rachel didn't feel any different after that, but maybe her expectations were just a bit too high. She gave a smile before talking again. 'Tristian huh? Well, I guess it would be rude if I didn't return the favour, my name is Rachel'

Rachel's happy delivery helped ease some of the fear and stress that were still in Tristian, making him relax a bit. 'That's… a nice name.'

Rachel let out a small chuckle before replying 'Thanks, I guess.'

Then Rachel had an epiphany. If Tristian truly didn't remember anything except for his name, did that also mean he didn't know what Mystery Dungeons were? She decided to ask. 'Now, Tristian. I need to know something, so please answer honestly.'

Tristian didn't expect such demands were going to be made, but Rachel didn't seem like a bad person. So he gave a little nod.

Then Rachel asked the big question. 'Do you have any knowledge on Mystery Dungeons?'

'Whaaaaa-'

Rachel sighed, stopping Tristian's display of confusion. 'Alright, this will be difficult.'

Tristian, being unaware of the situation they were currently in, asked a simple question. 'Why?'

'Because we are currently IN one.' Rachel said in an almost annoyed tone.

'….oh' Said Tristian, which roughly translated to "Oh man, this can't be good…"

Rachel sighed, realizing that this was going to take a while. 'Let me try to give you a brief summary. Mystery Dungeons are… well, Dungeons that constantly change in layout.'

To Tristian, this sounded bad and illogical. How could a dungeon do that? 'That sounds complicated.' But then he got a terrifying thought. 'How do you get out of one then!?'

'Calm down, we aren't stuck here forever if that's what you're thinking.' Rachel said, trying to calm Tristian down.

Tristian had a mental sigh of relief at the news that he wasn't stuck here forever.

Rachel continued her explanation. 'Mystery Dungeons can be left by either using an Escape Badge, which I don't have. Using an Escape Orb, but the chances of finding one here are laughable. And finally, just getting to the exit, which is what we are going to do.'

Tristian was following along fine, but something bugged him. 'Why can't we just walk back the way you came from?'

Rachel shook her head. 'That's because the layout changes, remember? Whenever you go to a new floor, the way back to the previous floor will be blocked.'

Tristian nodded. 'Okay, anything else I should know.'

'That depends. What is your current Level?' Rachel asked, hoping that Tristian maybe still remembered that.

To no one's surprise, he didn't. 'Huh, level? Like the level of a building or…'

Before Tristian finished, Rachel burst out laughing. Tristian realised he had said something dumb or nonsensical. She noticed him starting to look down, and practically immediately started to feel bad. 'Sorry, I just can't believe you said building of all things!'

Rachel then cleared her throat and continued. 'A long time ago, some Pokémon discovered that you can get stronger from surviving Mystery Dungeons. Pokémon needed a way to refer to this experience and someone came up with Level. The higher your Level, the more moves you can do and the stronger you'll get.'

Tristian blinked a few times in confusion. 'How do you know so much about this?'

Rachel looked up for a bit. 'There are books on Mystery Dungeons in the Eeveelution Library. It's a library run by a family of Eeveelutions, and they have a lot of knowledge there.'

Then one of the things Rachel said started to come to Tristian's attention. 'Wait, you said something about "surviving Mystery Dungeons". What do you mean with survive?'

Rachel gave a bit of an awkward smile. 'I guess I should have mentioned that a bit sooner, eh?'

Rachel stood up and started to wander around the room 'Mystery Dungeons have a defence mechanism, and that's in the form of "clones"'

'Clones?' Tristian said, ever confused.

'Yup! Clones.' Rachel said in confirmation. 'Clones of Pokémon to be exact. I might tell you more about the why and how, but for now you should know the basics.'  
'One: The clones can't think for themselves and don't have self-preservation instinct… for the most part.'  
'Two: Defeating Clones is not murder. You can't murder something that wasn't really alive to begin with. So don't worry about being seen as a murderer if you have to apply self-defence.'

This surprised Tristian. 'Really? No one cares?'

'Nope.' Rachel said. 'They don't even care if you hunt them down on purpose, which does sound morbid but…'  
'Three: Defeating Clones gives you progress to the next Level. Enough said.'

It wasn't hard for Tristian to understand the things Rachel had now told him, but he was confused about one thing. 'I have another question?'

'…You know that this isn't a school or anything like that, right?' Rachel said, a smile forming on her face.

'Oh! Sor-'

Rachel immediately stopped Tristian. 'It's okay. What is your question?'

Tristian gave it a second, and then proceeded to ask: 'How do you defeat Clones?'

Rachel almost looked dumbfounded. 'Using moves! What? Are you trying to say that you don't know your moves?'

Tristian looked away in shame.

Rachel wasn't expecting Tristian to mean it. 'You… are…oh right, your memories are kinda gone. I Guess I should ask Volt if he can fix that.'

'Who's Volt?' Tristian asked.

'That's important for later.' Rachel said, doing a little swiping motion with her paw. 'Do you have any more questions?'

Tristian shook his head. 'No, not really.'

Rachel, relieved to finally be able to get out, let out a sigh. 'Okay, then let's get out of here.'

And with that, Rachel and Tristian moved to the entrance of the second floor.

* * *

Back in Treasure Town, Robert and Monaco arrived at the Wigglytuff Guild entrance.

The ghost type turned to the normal type. 'Aight Monaco, how about you step on the gate, I don't really have the limbs to do that'

'Very well, I just hope Diglett isn't away again' Monaco said in a bitter tone, as he proceeded to step on the gate.

Once again, the voice beneath the grate spoke like an alarm. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

'At least he's here this time' Monaco thought.

The voice continued... 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

And the voice continued... 'The footprint is Marrowak's! The footprint is Marrowak's!'

'…You may ENTER!' A loud voice inside the guild confirmed.

But before they could move a muscle, the loud voice spoke once more. 'Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand up THERE!'

Robert laughed almost sheepishly. 'I wish I could friend, but I lack the… how should I say it… form to complete that request.'

'That voice! It's Robert' The voice below them said.

'You'd better be RIGHT about this Diglett.' The voice in the guild screamed. 'You may ENTER!'

And with that, Monaco and Robert where allowed to enter the guild and took the ladder down to the second floor. There they saw two boards with papers on them, and multiple exploration teams and guild members looking at these boards.

They were then greeted by the guildmaster's right hand man, a Chatot.

'So, what do you two need done?' Chatot asked. '…Or did one of the Guildmembers forget to update their license with your bank?'

Robert shook his head on that last question. 'Actually, there's an emergency over at Beach Cave, and we need the Guild's help.'

This had Chatot intrigued. What could possibly happen in such a low level Dungeon? 'What kind of emergency?'

Monaco then proceeded to give an answer in a passive aggressive manner. 'The kind where two weak Pokémon are stuck in the Dungeon with no way out and no SOS on them!'

Robert sighed before saying. 'For the last time. Rachel isn't weak. She'll be fine.'

'Well better safe than sorry!' Monaco retorted.

'Quiet, both of you!' Chatot said in a stern tone. There was obviously an emergency going on, and the two of them fighting would help no one. 'Let me get this straight, there are Pokémon stuck in the dungeon without an SOS, correct?'

'Yes' Monaco replied pretty aggressively, while Robert just shook yes.

Chatot rubbed his feathers together before jumping into action 'Then we shall be going there immediately! I'll inform the guildmaster!

* * *

**Beach Cave B2F**

Tristian and Rachel made it to the next floor, the way behind them disappearing in the process. Although he had a type advantage, Tristian still acted very cautiously and wary, which could cause problems when they had to potentially fight off clones. Rachel decided it would be a good idea to reassure him that everything would be fine. 'That wasn't so hard now, wasn't it' Rachel said to Tristian.

Tristian was caught off guard with the sudden statement, but he quickly recovered. 'That went… alright.' Tristian said, confidence lacking in the delivery.

This wasn't going to be easy. Tristian must've been in shock because of everything that had happened ever since he had woken up. She proceeded to try to lift Tristian's spirits a bit. 'We need to find two more stairs and then we will be out of here.'

Tristian let out a small sigh. 'I guess you're ri-'

Before Tristian could finish his sentence however, Rachel got hit by a particularly strong water gun, the attack coming from a Shellos. Rachel let out a yelp as she was launched against the wall.

Tristian watched in horror as the one guiding him got rammed against the wall, leaving nothing standing between him and this… thing. The amount of space he had to move was also small, since they were currently in a hallway. The hallway was also adjacent to a pool of water, making moving either direction completely useless.

Tristian, in a panic and a little bit of rage, used Thunder shock against the Shellos, which fried the water type to medium rare, causing the Shellos to vanish into blue clouds. Tristian stood there as the victor, panting from all the adrenaline still pumping through his body.

Rachel let out a small cough before standing back up again. 'That… was pretty impressive.'

This was enough to wake Tristian from his first 'kill', after which he proceeded to panic. 'Are you alright! What do I do! You're not going to die, right!'

Rachel raised her paw to indicate for Tristian to stop panicking 'Stop the dramatics already! I'm fine.'

Tristian wasn't calmed down, however 'How can you be certain! You were just launched into the wall by that attack!'

Rachel sighed. 'Yes, that would've been a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that wall was only a few meters away. The attack was one of blunt force, I'll be fine Tristian.'

Tristian inspected Rachel and saw a bruise on the spot where she had been hit, but there was no further damage.

Tristian finally calmed down, to the delight of Rachel. 'Sorry for freaking out on you…'

Rachel just laughed it off. 'It's fine, don't worry. Let's keep going now.'

Tristian nodded in agreement. It seems that a battle with a clone was the thing he needed to calm himself down. Rachel laughed at that thought.

And the duo went onwards, and they soon enough found the staircase.

**Beach Cave B3F**

For their first time in a Mystery Dungeon, things were going pretty smoothly for the two Pokémon. 'Only one more floor and we'll be out of here!' Rachel celebrated.

She turned to Tristian to see his response, only to find the Shinx completely enthralled with something on the floor.

He inspected the round yellow objects with extreme interest. It was pretty though and very shiny. He needed to know what it was. 'Hey Rachel! Do you know what this thing is?'

She walked over to the side of Tristian, and recognized what it was immediately. 'Oh, that's Poké. It's the currency we use.'

He was overwhelmed with the urge of grabbing it and running before the owner catches him, despite the fact that there was no owner. He resisted however, not wanting to make a mistake so soon. '…Can I take it?'

She was surprised by Tristian's sudden hesitation, but she just laughed it off. 'I don't see why you can't. Nobody here is going to miss it.'

Tristian's face almost literally lit up at Rachel's answer. Tristian proceeded to grab the Poké, which turned into 40 smaller Poké! 'Wow! It just turned smaller! How much is this worth?'

She frowned. 'It's not a lot I'm afraid.'

And with that, his excitement faded away. 'aawh.'

'Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You looked so excited for a moment. Almost like you forgot that we are fighting for our lives.'

Tristian knew that Rachel was right, now was not the time to just stop and grab small trinkets to keep. 'Sor-'

Rachel however, was a bit done with Tristian's constant apologies, certainly when they were unnecessary. 'Don't say sorry for that! You did nothing wrong.'

This had the intended effect and Tristian looked away a bit sheepishly. 'You're… right. I should probably stop doing that every minute. So, shall we get going?'

She nodded. 'Sure.'

They met little resistance along the path, and soon enough they had reached the final staircase.

**Beach Cave Pit**

It was then that Rachel and Tristian had found themselves at the end of the dungeon. There were no more paths left to take.

Tristian turned to his guide. 'So… what happens now?'

Rachel gave her feline friend a grin. 'Now, we use an idea you had earlier and head back the way we came.'

She then turned around, facing away from the dead end, back to the opening they just came from.

This left Tristian a bit baffled. 'Wait, that's it?'

'Yup, we've survived our first Mystery Dungeon!' Rachel celebrated.

Tristian let out a sigh of relief. 'Finally… Thanks allot Rachel. I don't know if I could've gotten out of here without you.'

'Hey, it's not a problem, and I would certainly not have returned if you weren't there. That uhh… what was it that attacked me? You know what, nevermind. point is, without you I wouldn't have returned.'

Tristian gave a grin. 'Let's not hold a competition right now about who helped the other the most, alright.'

'Sure, Let's get out of here!' Rachel said.

* * *

On the outside of Beach Cave, Robert and Monaco had just returned with the entire guild right behind them. There were only a few Pokémon left on the beach as they arrived, which included Clefable, Gen, and the Kecleon brothers.

'Have they come out yet!' Monaco asked to Clefable.

Clefable shook her head. 'Nope, they still aren't here.'

Chatot then walked over to the group of Pokémon. 'So! What is the situation!' He asked in a stern voice.

Gen stepped forward and explained everything that had happened, from the Pokémon that crashed into the Dungeon, up to Rachel running into the Dungeon. 'And that's what has happened up to now.'

Chatot rubbed over his beak for a second and then jumped into action. 'Alright everyone, listen up! I want Loudred, Sunflora, and Bidoof to go in and find these missing Pokémon. Remember, they don't have SOS's on them, so we have no clue where they actually are. Still, I want you to try to find them to the best of your ability, got that!'

The three guild members all stepped forward.

'I got it, oh my gosh!' Sunflora responded.

'Understood, yup, yup.' Bidoof responded.

'LOUD and CLEAR!' Loudred responded very loudly.

Chatot looked at the three of them before continuing on. 'Alright. Then le-'

'There they are!' The purple Kecleon shouted, interrupting Chatot in the process.

Everyone turned to the entrance of Beach Cave, where they saw Rachel and a Shinx exiting it.

Gen was the first of the group to react. 'My dear you're alright!' She said before giving Rachel a tight hug.

Robert floated over to Gen's side. 'I told you that she'd be fine.'

Monaco then stepped forward, making Gen end her hug. 'What were you thinking! You could've gotten yourself killed!'

And then it turned into a shouting fest with the population of Treasure Town arguing about this whole situation. It was stopped however, by a quake caused by the guildmaster, Wigglytuff.

'G-guildmaster? What are you doing?' Chatot asked.

But Wigglytuff ignored Chatot's question and walked over to the duo of Tristian and Rachel. 'Hiya! So, can you tell me what happened in there?'

She was caught off guard by the sudden question, and the fact the question came from the guildmaster himself. But it didn't stop her for long. 'Uh… yeah, sure.' She then proceeded to tell about the journey she and Tristian just went through.

Wigglytuff patiently listened to the entire story, and only after Rachel was done did he speak again. 'And you did all with no prior experience?'

'Well, I read some books on mystery dungeons, but that was about it.'

Then a Diglett moved forward, who was also a member of the guild. 'Wait a minute, you're that Vulpix from earlier today. Why did you run away from the grate?'

Rachel didn't want to say it, but everyone's anticipation was too much for her, causing her to capitulate. 'I… wanted to join the guild and become an explorer. But I got scared at the sudden alarm and that was just too much for me.'

There were some murmurs from the crowd, yet Wigglytuffs face still had a big smile plastered all over it. 'But you did handle yourself in the Dungeon, right?'

'well…'

'Yes!' Tristian suddenly said, surprising everyone. 'She did it very well. If it wasn't for her, I would most likely be dead.' He had seen how Rachel handled herself in Beach Cave. While he was panicking and scared, she was helping and guiding him through it, being akin to an encyclopaedia of how to survive Mystery Dungeons.

While everyone was still recovering from the Shinx's sudden vouch, Wigglytuff came to a decision. '…Okay! Welcome to the guild friend'

She nearly jumped in surprise. 'W-wait, really?'

'Yup!' Wigglytuff said in a cheery tone.

The crowd was silent for a moment, before they started cheering, congratulating Rachel on finally joining the guild.

She couldn't believe it, she was now an official member of the guild. Rachel was left ecstatic. But then something dawned on her. She turned to the Shinx next to her. 'Hey, Tristian?'

'Yeah Rachel?'

'What will you do now that you're out of the Dungeon?'

Tristian looked like he was going to give an answer, but then he looked a bit difficult, as he remembered that he forgot everything about himself. He didn't have any idea of what to do now. He had no memories, no idea what to do, and no goal. 'I don't know…'

The Kangaskhan stepped forward, face filled with concern. 'What's wrong dear? What do you mean with that?'

He started to realise the weight of the fact of what having no memories meant for him. 'I… can't remember anything. Not about my past, nor about my goals, or even where I came from.'

Everyone was left silent after that. Until Wigglytuff once again activated positivity mode. 'I hope you don't mind if I ask, but how was your first time in a Mystery Dungeon?'

Tristian calmed down a little bit before answering Wigglytuff. 'It was intense, but also… exiting? I mean, I was ecstatic when I found something, while I didn't even know what it was used for.'

'He also saved my fur when a Shellos attacked me out of nowhere.' Rachel added to the conversation, repaying him for the vouching he gave to her a few moments ago.

Wigglytuff started to lean back and forth. 'So, you two are saying that the other was critical for your own success, riiiight?'

The two turned to each other before Tristian responded. 'I guess that you're right.'

'Then why not join the guild as a team!' Wigglytuff said.

Tristian looked a bit sceptical. He had nowhere to go and nothing to achieve. Meanwhile he's being offered a chance to form a team with Rachel, someone he likes and seemed like a good friend, to then go on and explore unknown places, find hidden treasures, and help those who were in a unlucky situation, like he was a little while ago. The decision wasn't that hard to make in the end. 'Okay, I'll join the guild.'

This caused Wigglytuff and the guild to let out a cheer. 'Hooray!'

While everyone was celebrating, Tristian turned to his now partner in exploration. 'I hope you don't mind us being a team.' He said in a jokey tone.

'I was kinda hoping for it, really.' Rachel admitted.

Chatot then jumped forward, interrupting the celebrations. 'Guildmaster. While I do not have any problems with them joining the guild, I think we should do the rest of this back at the guild.'

The guildmaster nodded. 'Alright Chatot, but I want to talk with the recruits for a moment.'

'Of course guidlmaster. Loudred, if you could.'

Loudred gave a thumbs up. 'No problem.' Loudred knew what to do. 'ALRIGHT EVERYONE! SHOW'S OVER! GO HOME!'

And with that, everyone left, leaving Wigglytuff, Tristian and Rachel alone.

Wigglytuff then turned to the two new recruits. 'I know Chatot wants you to do this back in the guild, but I'm so excited to know what your team name is going to be, I just couldn't wait!'

Rachel's started to look down a little bit. 'Team name… I didn't really think of one. Never thought I would be part of a team to be honest. Tristian, do you have any ideas?'

He let out a chuckle. 'I don't think it's a good idea to ask the amnesiac for ideas in this case.' He joked.

Wigglytuff then started to dance. He had a great idea! 'Oh, oh, oh, oh! I have an idea! I have an idea! How about team Lightbringers?'

Rachel and Tristian pondered about it for a bit before agreeing with the suggested team name, with Rachel being the first to show her approvement of the name. 'I think it fits, with fire and lightning both involving light. What about you Tristian?'

'You won't hear any complaints from me.' He said.

'Then it's settled. YOOM-TAH!' The earth proceeded to quake a bit because of Wigglytuff excitement. 'Now! Let's head back to the guild so I can give you your equipment, and so that you can have something to eat. You two must be famished!'

Rachel agreed with that 'I-'

But before Rachel could finish her sentence, her belly finished it for her, by grumbling like an angry Meowth.

Tristian was withholding a laugh. 'I think your belly said "yes" for you.'

And then Tristian's belly did the same.

'Same for you Tristian.' Rachel said, barely holding her laughter in.

And after one more laugh, they headed towards the guild.

* * *

**Mt. Bristle Peak**

Somewhere else, two Pokémon are standing atop of Mt. Bristle peak. One of them very big, and the other pretty small. The small one was carrying a weird stone with symbols all over it.

'Alright, this is it. Here is where we shall hide my artefact.' The big one said, pointing towards a hole in the wall.

The small one was confused. 'But… how do we get in dad? The hole is way too small for me, and certainly for you.'

This made the big one grin, before saying. 'Who said we needed to walk?'

With that, the big Pokémon summoned a portal for them to use. They went through and found themselves in an ancient worship site for Giratina. Filled with statues and symbolism of the Renegade Pokémon. By the age of the idols, it could easily be assumed that they were made a very, very long time ago. It was a small room, with one long hallway right in front of the small hole.

The small one stared in awe at all the symbolism, and then turned to the the bigger Pokémon. 'Wow dad! Were all those built for you?'

Giratina laughed. 'Yes Mimikyu, they were all built in my honour.'

'But I thought a thief's treasure was hidden here, at least, that's what I heard that in Treasure Town.' Mimikyu said.

Giratina sighed and shook his head. 'Don't believe everything you hear Mimikyu. Some people want to see others work hard to reach a non-existent goal, or even like to watch them suffer as they try.'

Mimikyu turns to his father in surprise, having difficulty accepting what he just heard. 'That's just mean! What kind of Pokémon would do that?'

'Some, but not many. There are bad people out there, sadly.' Giratina lamented. There have been many in history to spread rumors and lies, just to forward their own goals, or even just for their amusement. Giratina once was one of these people, which was one of the reasons he was banished by Arceus to the Distortion Realm.

Mimikyu nodded and the duo proceeded to walk further down the hall. The hall was filled with more decorations dedicated to the Anti-matter Pokémon, becoming more impressive as they walked further down the halls.

'Hey dad. Why did you choose this place?' This question had been stuck in Mimikyu's mind the moment they got here. Why were they going to put the artifact here specifically?

Giratina knew this question would've come up eventually, so he had an explanation prepared. He stopped moving and started to explain. 'I had a few reasons for that. First, it will be harder for my siblings to find out what I'm doing. Second, I asked that Xatu from Treasure Town when someone would show up here, and he told me that someone will be here in two days. Third, if that Pokémon is able to get in here, then they will have the skills needed to be able to complete this mission without much hardship.'

Mimikyu looked a bit confused at that. 'But… how will anyone get in here? The hole is too tiny for any normal Pokémon to get through.'

Giratina laughed for a moment before giving his son an answer. 'That's partly the point. Either they are small enough to fit through, or they force their way in.'

'But what about all the statues and such? What if they get damaged in the process?' Mimikyu said, while pointing to all the statues and idols.

Giratina looked a bit difficult, but then he realised that this would be a perfect opportunity to teach his son about letting things from the past go.

Giratina cleared his throat. 'I… will be… fine. I don't need them to be the mi-'

Before he even finished that sentence portals appeared beneath every statue and piece of symbolism, teleporting them all to safety.

There was a moment of silence between the father and son.

Then Mimikyu broke the silence. 'You couldn't let go of it, couldn't you?'

'…No…' Giratina said, letting out a defeated sigh. 'Let's just keep going.'

The two then reached the end of the cave. It was an empty room (Thanks to Giratina's removal of everything not bolted to the floor) with two puddles of water on both sides.

Mimikyu, with no clue about what to do next, turned to his dad. 'So… where shall I put it?'

'Put it on… that altar I just summoned.' And with that, an altar fell out of a portal, landing at the end of the room in between the two puddles.

As Mimikyu was placing down the artefact, he had one more question for his dad. 'Hey dad?'

'Yes Mimikyu?'Giratina responded.

'What will this artefact even do?' Mimikyu asked, since he had been very quiet about the purpose of the artifact ever since he made it.

Giratina stood still in silence for a moment, before shaking his head. 'I'm afraid I can't say that. I have spoken too much already, and I don't want to take any chances with my siblings, or the fence…'

Mimikyu looked disappointed, trying to make Giratina share something about it in pity. It was super effective! 'Alright! I'll tell you one thing about it.'

Mimikyu's face shot up, as he was filled with glee. 'Yay!'

Giratina took a breath. 'It is… complicated, in how it works and what it does. I needed to break many rules of time and space to make this work, so it'll be hard to understand at first. I just hope the Pokémon that finds this will get the hang of it very quickly. This might be our only hope to stop time's degradation.'

Although it wasn't the kind of answer Mimikyu was looking for, he decided that it would not be wise to push his father for more info, since that could very well make grandpa angry with him.

After a little bit, Mimikyu had placed the artifact neatly on top of the altar. 'Alright, I'm done!'

Giratina let out a sigh of relief. He was already breaking many rules, and if this didn't help at all, then the degradation of time would be the last of his problems. Better to leave now, before anyone got the chance to find out what they were doing. 'Then let's get out of here, pronto!'

Mimikyu jumped up in agreement 'Yup, this place is to dank for me.'

And with that, the two Pokémon left Mt. Bristle. Leaving an artifact behind, waiting for someone to use it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter 2 done. This was fun to write, but boy did it take a while.
> 
> I want to thank Miner7365, Dvovm, RibbonDove and Makkuro for proof-reading my story. It made this chapter just that bit better.


	3. Lightbringers Join the Fold

Back near Treasure town, Wigglytuff and the new recruits were making their way back to the guild, going through a forest path that connected from the beach to the crossroads. But there was a Black & yellow figure standing among the trees.

Upon Seeing the figure Rachel started to remember something. 'Hey Tristian, remember when you asked me who Volt was?'

He blinked a few times before it all came back to him. 'Uhm, yeah I do. Something about knowing my level, right?'

Rachel nodded to her feline friend. 'Yup, and I guess that we are in luck today.' She then proceeded to walk towards the figure.

It didn't take the Electivire long to notice her approach. 'Ah, Rachel. What are you doing here?'

'Hello Volt. We are heading towards the Wigglytuff guild.' She said in response.

He blinked a few times in disbelief. 'Wait, you finally did it?'

Then Wigglytuff proceeded to jump into the conversation. 'Yup! She is a part of the guild now!'

Volt quickly got rid of his surprised face and swapped it out for a glad one. 'Now that's just great to hear! I'm certain you'll do well. But I assume this isn't the only reason you approached me, correct?'

She gave a small nod. 'Well, you see. My partner here seems to have lost his memory, so much so that he doesn't know his own level or moves.'

Tristian gave an awkward smile as Volt inspected the Shinx. 'That is not good. I actually had somewhere to be, but I guess I can postpone it until this is done. I do expect compensation however.'

The Guildmaster jumped around a bit before turning back to Volt. 'Of course friend! Your services to the guild are utmost appreciated!'

The Electivire nodded at that. 'Very well, then I will accompany you to the guild.'

And the four of them continued walking through the forest to their destination.

* * *

The four Pokémon arrived at the guild entrance. The sun hung high in the sky, completely lightening up the guild entrance area, making it look slightly less imposing then before.

Rachel was physically shaking, remembering what happened this morning. It would be terrible to be dissuaded now that she was a member of the guild. She looked behind her to see Volt, the Guildmaster, and her new partner waiting for her to make her move. After some silence, she finally swallowed her fear and proceeded to step onto the grate.

And not even a second had passed and the voice beneath the grate started again. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

Rachel was getting nervous again, and the sudden alarm from beneath the grate startled Tristian, but the voice continued on. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

She was starting to tense up again. Could she even do this? 'The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!'

She steered herself. She wouldn't give up now, not while she got this far.

And soon enough the worst of it was over. '…You may ENTER!' A loud voice inside the guild confirmed.

Rachel let out a sigh of relief, but the voice inside the guild wasn't done yet. 'Someone's with you! So get those strangers to stand up THERE!'

The three Pokémon looked at each other, wondering which of them should go first. In the silence, the Guildmaster insinuated that he shall go now, to which Tristian and Volt agreed.

Wigglytuff proceeded to step on the grate without a care in the world. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

He was bouncing back and forth. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

And it didn't take long before he flipped and flopped and flew all about. 'It's the Guildmaster! It's the Guildmaster!'

The loud voice inside the guild started again, putting a stop to Wigglytuff's exercise. 'Alright, NEXT!'

The Electivire raised his hand. 'Then I shall go next.'

He proceeded to stand on the grate. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

Volt stood there patiently, waiting for the identification process to be done. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

He knew it would only be a matter of time until… 'The footprint is Electivire's! The footprint is Electivire's!'

And that was that. 'You may also enter. Okay, LAST ONE!'

Tristian was a bit nervous. This process was certainly odd, and somewhat frightening, but everyone else had now done it, so there was little reason to actually be scared.

He calmed himself and proceeded to stand on the grate. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

He stayed rooted to the grate, although that could just be his claws getting stuck in the wood because of the pressure. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

At least it was almost over. 'The footprint is... The footprint is... Um...'

And then it started to get a bit strange. The voice within the guild was seemingly equally as confused. 'What's the matter? Sentry? Sentry?! What's wrong, Sentry Diglett?'

Beneath the grate, Diglett started to sweat. This was his job, he can't be failing now. 'Umm... Er... Umm... The footprint is... Maybe Shinx's! Maybe Shinx's!'

And then a loud noise came from within the guild. 'What?! MAYBE?!'

Diglett started to sweat even harder, the anger of his colleague starting to scare him. 'B-but... it's not a footprint that you normally see around here...'

The voice inside the guild took a deep breath. 'UGH! That's pretty crummy! Checking the footprints of visiting Pokémon... That's your job, ISN'T it, Diglett? BESIDES! You saw a Shinx LITERALLY back near Beach Cave! HOW HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN THAT?!'

'Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know.' Diglett said, starting to get nervous.

Then Wigglytuff took a deep breath, and then…

'YOOM-TAH!'

There was a small quake and the arguing immediately stopped. After a few seconds, the voice inside the guild started to talk again. 'Well, it's TRUE that you don't see any Shinx in these parts... But you literally just joined the guild, and the Guildmaster is with you...'

'Alright, that's all. ALL OF YOU MAY ENTER!'

The gate that blocked access to the guild got lifted up, allowing them to enter. Wigglytuff went first, signalling to the rest to follow him.

The inside of the tent was pretty big. To their left stood a wooden board with something written on it, to their right was an arrow sign pointing towards a hatch right in front of them.

'Follow me!' Wigglytuff gleefully said, as they all proceeded down the hatch to the second floor.

Tristian and Rachel were amazed by the amount of Pokémon present on this floor, all of them talking or looking on the bulletin boards for missions.

Rachel turned to the Guildmaster. 'That's a lot of people… Are they all explorers?'

He shook his head. 'Not everyone. Some of the Pokémon here are part of the guild.'

Then someone came up from the third floor, and he quickly walked over to the group. 'Ah, so it was you four who were just let in. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokemon in the know around these parts! I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokemon!'

Then his expression became a bit uncertain. 'Now, before we get started, I want to know if you two are completely sure that you want to join the guild. The training will not be easy and we will ask a lot from you. Just look at the pretty big stream of Pokémon who run away, for instance. Are you completely certain with your choice?'

Tristian somehow shrugged. 'I don't have anything else to go back to, at least, as far as I know. So I'm certain!' He turned to his partner. 'What about you Rachel?'

Rachel stopped for a moment and started to think about it. ' _Okay, this is something I wanted to do for my entire life, and now I'm given this opportunity on a silver platter. I know the risks, costs, and the literal costs, and have long accepted them. And this might make them finally remember me…'_ Her inner debate came to an end as she nodded. 'Yes, I'm certain of it.'

Chatot nodded. 'Alright then, just wanted to be sure. It's not every day that the Guildmaster chooses people to join. Normally those who want to join come to us.' He then flapped his wings. 'Now then! We will now go to the Guildmaster's chamber. If you would please follow me.'

The group followed Chatot down to the third floor of the guild, and they followed him immediately into the door on the right of the ladder.

The group entered the room, and Wigglytuff immediately went to stand on the carpet at the end of the room. He then proceeded to stare at the wall for multiple seconds.

Tristian tried to rub his hand on his face, which didn't work as well when you have paws for hands. 'Why is he doing that?'

Then, as if on cue, Wigglytuff turned around, like he was just done with staring into the night sky. 'Heya! I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster! You want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we must register your exploration team's name! So tell me your team's name?'

After recovering from that sudden introduction, Rachel started to worry. 'Oh? Our team's name? We…' She slowed down for a moment before realising that she was being stupid. '…DID think of that, right Tristian?'

He was seemingly also staring off into space, as he came back into reality in almost a panic. 'Huh? Yeah! Yeah, we did! We want to go with the name Team Lightbringers.'

She nodded in agreement. 'Yup! We thought it suited us quite well.'

The Guildmaster gave a small nod. 'All settled, then! I'll register your team as Lightbringers.' He then started to shuffle around a bit while almost singing. 'Registering! Registering! All registered...' Before then jumping into the air, causing a little quake on impact. 'YOOM…TAH! Congratulations! From now on, you're an official exploration team! I present you with this in commemoration.'

He then walked towards the new recruits and put down a small golden chest.

Tristian tilted his head and inspected the box. 'Rachel, do you know what this is?'

She took a small look at it. 'I believe that's a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit.'

'What's a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?' Tristian then asked.

Chatot then stepped forward again, looking forward to the chance to explain these things. 'A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit contains everything any well respected Exploration Team needs. If you would please open it up.'

The two proceeded to take the lid of the box, and inside it were two badges, a map, a treasure bag, and two apples.

Tristian lightened up. 'Wow! That's a lot of cool stuff in there! But… what do they do?'

Chatot took this as his sign to resume his explanation. 'Those badges you are holding are Explorer Badges, which are the identification for your team. The map there is a Wonder Map, which is called that because they also show where you are on the continent. And then there is also the Treasure Bag, which allows you to store items for use in Mystery Dungeons, or to take the loot from said Mystery Dungeon. The size of the bag will increase in size as you get more successful in your dungeon diving experience.'

Rachel nodded, but still looked somewhat confused. 'And what are the two apples for?'

'…What?' Chatot said.

Wigglytuff bounced a bit. 'You two were pretty exhausted and hungry after all you've been through, so I decided to put two Big Apples in there so that you have something to eat right now!'

'Wow, really? Thanks!' Rachel said. '…Are we allowed to eat them right now?'

Wigglytuff nodded. 'Sure! Go right ahead.'

Without another word she started to chow down on the apple, and with just a few bites there was nothing left, not even a core. Tristian took a bit longer to start, finding it a bit abnormal how quickly Rachel ate her apple, but he started eating soon enough, and just like with Rachel, there was nothing left.

Rachel turned to the Guildmaster. 'Thank you!'

Wigglytuff, still with his permanent smile plastered on his face, nodded. 'No problem. OH!' The Guildmaster jumped a bit as he remembered something, causing him to turn around and grab something 'I almost forgot to give you these!' He said as he handed Rachel a Special Band and Tristian a Yellow Bow, who immediately put them on after getting them.

He had a bit of a hard time putting the bow on, but was ecstatic when he got it on his head. 'Wow, that's cool! What does it-'

Chatot put one of his wings before the Shinx, signalling for him to stop with the constant barrage of questions. 'Before you get too excited, they're mostly cosmetic.' Chatot then turned to the third guest in the chamber. 'And why were you here again?'

Volt, who had been ever patiently waiting for the introductions to be over, nodded to Chatot's question. 'I was asked to come along by the Guildmaster. They told me that the young Shinx here has lost his memory and doesn't know his level or moves. So, shall we get started?'

Chatot looked to Wigglytuff, who gave him a nod of approval. 'Yes, you may start.'

Volt nodded, after which he said 'Ok. You two, please sit down for a moment.' before locating himself behind the duo.

Tristian was all well and good with finding out his level, but he didn't stop to consider how it would be done. However, before he could share this concern, Volt had already started generating electricity.

There came little sparks of energy out of his hands, which he started to morph into a flat surface. 'I will warn you it might shock a little, but it's of no consequence.'

Tristian tried to move, but he was too late, as the Electivire went with his electricity current through him like a scanner. It didn't hurt as much as he expected however, only feeling a bit of a tingly sensation. It didn't take long before Volt was done with the procedure.

He turned to Chatot. 'Can you perhaps give me some paper?'

Chatot nodded and got a piece of paper and a pen from one of the drawers in the room. He gave it to Volt who then proceeded to quickly write down what he found out. After a few minutes he was done and gave the paper to Tristian.

From what Volt had seen from the Shinx, he knew questions would soon follow, so he decided to get it over with beforehand. 'You are currently Level 4 out of 100. Your current moves that you can use are Leer, Tackle, Quick Attack, and finally Thunder Shock.' After saying this Volt moved over to Rachel to repeat the same process he did with Tristian.

'Wow, those are quite a few abilities! What do they do?' Tristian said.

Chatot decided to step in. 'I think there have been enough tutorials for one day. How about we discuss these other matters tomorrow when I give you your first assignment.'

At this time Volt was done and had given Rachel back her current stats. 'So I'm level 6? So I did get stronger in Beach Cave. Cool!'

Volt nodded. 'You did get stronger, but your move pool hasn't increased I'm afraid. I will be out of town the coming few days, so I won't be here to explain your abilities, but I'm certain you can find info on it in the library.'

As volt grabbed his bag and walked to the exit, he was stopped by Tristian calling to him. 'Wait! What about my memory? Can you do anything about that?'

He looked somberly to the floor as he shook his head. 'No, I'm afraid that's out of my expertise. You'll have to find someone else who can help you with that, and that won't be easy.'

Tristian disappointedly nodded. 'Ok. Thanks for the help, and good travels!'

He let out a smirk and waved to the Mons in the room. 'Likewise!' And with that, Volt left the Guild.

After everyone waved Volt goodbye and he left, Chatot turned to the recruits. 'Ok, for now I want you two to meet the rest of the guild, I'm certain they will help you get acclimated to the guild building. Don't worry too much about your tasks for today, since you will get started tomorrow.'

The two of them nodded and before they walked out of the Guildmaster's chamber, Wigglytuff shouted something after them. 'Good luck!'

Once outside of the Guildmaster's Chamber, they found themselves surrounded by a group of Pokémon. The Loudred in the group was the first to speak. 'Well, it was about TIME that you finally joined the guild. Are Diglett and I really that terrifying?'

Rachel, finding herself in a sudden confrontation, started to become nervous. 'W-wha? No that's not true! I've never heard you two before today!'

Loudred was moving his hand over his chin in a distrusting manner. 'Hmmhm, then WHY did you run away when Diglett was doing his thing? It would be another story if I gave you a heart attack with my decibel count, but Diglett's voice is the one to break your nerve!?'

'Because it sounded like some emergency alarm, as if I were some criminal that stepped onto the grate!' Rachel started to feel a bit insulted, and started to get a bit more offensive.

Chimicho had enough of this and started to ring, making everyone fall quiet. 'Alright, I think that's enough of that. How about we all introduce ourselves to the recruits instead of antagonizing them.' She turned towards the duo. 'I'm Chimicho. I'm the one who readies the Guilds diner, and the Guild's medic in case of emergencies. I also run Chimecho Assembly, with which you can choose who comes with you on guild missions, but I'll tell you more about that when you are allowed to use it.'

Loudred, rubbing the back of his head, stepped up next. 'My name is Loudred. Me and Diglett do Sentry Duty to make sure that no criminals get access to the guild.' He then looked towards Rachel specifically. 'Also… sorry for that just now. I just wanted to test how you would respond to that and didn't mean anything with it.'

Then Bidoof was next. 'Hi, my name is Bidoof, and I am, or well, was the newest recruit of the guild. Also, don't worry about the whole… Grate situation. It's never easy when you do it for the first time. Yup yup!'

'He's right! It took Bidoof here like, 5 tries before he stood on the grate long enough to be let in.' Loudred interjected, causing Bidoof to blush a bit.

After a bit of laughter from the guild members, Diglett was next. 'So, I am Diglett, and as Loudred already explained, I help with Sentry Duty.'

'Wait, does that mean that you two don't do any exploration tasks?' Tristian asked.

Diglett shook his head. 'No no no, it just means that we do it less often than usual. Someone needs to make sure that no bad guys sneak their way in while everyone is off doing tasks.'

Then there was a small quake as the next guild member came up to say hello. 'Greetings, we are Dugtrio. We make sure that the Bulletin Boards are up to date and accurate'

Then the crablike Pokemon was next in the introductions. 'Hey, hey! My name's Corphish! I'm an apprentice. Hey, hey! If you don't know what's going on or whatever... you come ask me! You got that, hey, hey?'

The sunflower turned to Corphish. 'As if you know everything.' Before turning her attention back to the new recruits. 'I am Sunflora, and I'm also an apprentice'

'Wait, what's the difference between a recruit and an apprentice?' Rachel then asked.

'Oh! Well, a recruit is a new member, and an apprentice means that you do the usual Dungeon diving and also have stayed long enough to know how things work. It would be rude to refer to regular members as recruits, like, oh my gosh.' Sunflora answered.

Then the frog like Pokémon was left last to introduce himself. 'Meh-heh-heh. I'm Croagunk, and I am working on something over there.' He proceeded to point towards a cauldron to the left of the ladder, which resided in a stone version of a Croagunk mouth. 'But I haven't fully fixed it yet, so when I have it up and running again, you will be the first ones to hear okay?'

Rachel nodded. 'Sure thing. I guess it's now our turn to do the introductions. My name is… well, you've heard my personal name already, so I guess it doesn't really matter. My name is Rachel.'

'And my name is Tristian.' Tristian said, but then he noticed an odd trend that was happening while everyone was doing their introductions. 'Wait… what do you mean "personal name" Rachel? Aren't those there actual names?'

This question caused Diglett to roll his eyes. 'Are you trying to tell me that you don't know how names work? Such things are common knowledge.'

This caused Tristian to go into a defensive position. 'Well, you have no point to argue from. You saw me on the beach, yet it took you quite a bit to figure out that it was me on top of the grate.'

This snide comment made Diglett go a bit into the ground.

Then Tristian sighed. 'Besides, if I DID know it before, I certainly don't anymore. My name is the only thing I can recall. When I said on the beach that I don't remember anything, I meant it.'

This caused Diglett to almost disappear into the ground in shame.

Then Chimicho decided to calm the situation. 'It's fine, don't worry. It is not every day that someone with such memory loss joins the Guild.' She then cleared her non-existent throat for the upcoming explanation. 'Basically, Pokémon have two names, their personal name and their species name. Your species name for instance is Shinx, while your personal name is Tristian. Pokemon only share their personal name to others if there are multiple of the same species in one area, otherwise it's a sign of trust. but truth be told, there aren't really any rules when it comes to when or to who you tell your personal name. Just keep in mind whether or not your friend would mind if you told others their name.'

Tristian nodded. 'I guess I'll find out about your names soon enough. I would love to tell more about myself, I really do, but I think you all get the idea. So Rachel. Do you have anything left to say?'

Rachel thought about it, before giving a shrugging motion. 'Not much to say, really. I have lived in Treasure Town for a month now. I wanted to join the Guild because I like the idea of exploring unexplored locations.' She grabbed a stone and showed it to the group. 'And this is the biggest reason I wanted to join. I know this Relic Fragment has to go somewhere, and I want to discover it.' She then put the rock away.

After her story everything had fallen quiet. 'So…' Tristian began. 'What happens now?'

Everyone looked around a bit awkwardly for a moment. But then Bidoof had an idea. 'Why don't we talk about how our day went?'

After a bit of soft murmuring everyone agreed.

* * *

And with that the day was getting to a close. Soon enough Chimicho returned to the group. 'Everyone! Thanks for waiting!' After everyone there was giving her their undivided attention she announced the good news. 'I finished making dinner! Come on! Dinner's on!'

And with that, the entire Guild cheered and sprinted into the dinning room. It was a pretty big room, with a table big enough for 14 normal sized Pokémon. The last Pokémon to enter were Chatot and Wigglytuff, the latter of them not sitting at the table, and instead standing next to Chatot with an apple.

Chatot cleared his throat. 'So, everyone is here?'

After a resounding yes he nodded. 'Very well then. Without further ado… On your marks… AND EAT!'

And with that, the entire guild started to chow down on their food, with the only one not joining in being Wigglytuff, who started to dance with the apple on his head. Tristian felt a bit hesitant about this manner, and he had no idea why he felt this way. But his hunger won the fight, and he joined the rest of the guild in gulping down dinner.

'Aaaah! I'm done eating! Excellent meal!'

'I'm stuffed, and now I'm getting sleepy...'

'Yep, I'm off to bed! Good night, gang!'

'Good night!'

It was the end of the day, and the new recruits were guided to their sleeping quarters by Chatot.

Tristian immediately lightened up as he jumped on top of the bed made of hay. 'Wow! A bed! Just what I need right now after such an intense day.'

Chatot simply stood there as Rachel went to the other bed. 'Yes, this is the place where you will be sleeping from now on. You did get your belongings from where you originally stayed, right?'

Tristian wanted to answer, before realising that this question most likely wasn't directed at him. Rachel spoke instead. 'I didn't have much stuff where I stayed to begin with, but I trust that Robert can take care of it.'

Chatot was satisfied with the answer and nodded. 'Very well. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow! So rise early and start living up to our code! And please don't stay up late! That is all.'

The two nodded as Chatot left the room. 'It is getting dark, so we should go to sleep.' Tristian said.

Rachel gave a small nod. 'Agreed. Goodnight Tristian.'

And the two laid on top of their beds for a few minutes without falling asleep. Rachel turned to Tristian and whispered. 'Hey, are you still awake Tristian?'

'Mm-hm' Tristian softly murmured.

Rachel let out a soft sigh. 'My heart's been racing all day over every little thing... But I'm glad I finally made myself come here. I thought Wigglytuff would be scary, but he seems pretty friendly. It's almost hard to believe that he even has that stigma around him to begin with!'

Tristian grinned a bit. 'Don't start jumping to conclusions too quickly Rachel. You know that it's always the very nice people that become terrifying when provoked.'

Rachel let out some laughter. 'We're going to experience all sorts of things starting tomorrow, but I'm not very scared. In fact, it's the other way around. I'm super excited about the adventures we'll face!'

'I gotta agree, it's pretty exciting to be in an exploration team. But I still wonder how I ended up in Beach Cave from the sky, or why I've lost my memories…'

'I'm certain we'll find the answers to that, they have to be out there somewhere. I know it!' She then let out a yawn. 'I'm feeling a little sleepy... Let's give it our all tomorrow. OK, Tristian. Good night.'

'Goodnight Rachel.'

And with that, the members of team Lightbringers went to sleep.

* * *

At this time in the north eastern portion of the Grass continent, a portal had opened up. A Grovyle got launched out of it, and the portal disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Grovyle took a minute to get up, the journey he had seemingly not been a pleasant one.

He then started to put everything that had just happened in a cohesive order. 'Alright, so I've arrived… somewhere, it is already dark, and I'm all alo-'

There was the sound of scattering leaves, causing Grovyle to jump into the bushes for cover, at least, that was his plan. Instead he planted his face straight into the ground. No getting away from this now, the being approaching him now knew that he was there. All he could do was prepare for inevitable combat.

His opponent however, didn't seem like a fighter. It was actually a Mimikyu. The ghost fairy started to look at him with peaked interest. Then it spoke. 'Uhmm, is everything alright sir?'

Grovyle lowered his guard, it was just a child after all, he shouldn't be this worried. 'I'm fine, for the most part…'

This seemingly cheered up the child, but then he started to look a bit nervous. 'Sir, do you happen to know the move Dig?'

This took him by surprise, why did this child need someone with that ability. There are more important things to attend to, but Grovyle was too invested in this to stop now. 'Yes, I do have that ability. Why do you ask?'

'I'm trying to find something, but it's buried underground, and it would take too long to find it myself.' The child told him.

Grovyle looked weary, but Mimikyu was desperate at this point. 'Are you perhaps an explorer? You seem to be missing your gear. If you help me I'll give you some supplies to get exploring again, please?'

This was too fast for him, but the words "missing gear" came to his interests. He could be much more efficient with those tools. So he decided to humor the child. 'Alright kid, I'll help if you can answer me my next question.'

Mimikyu nodded 'Sure! What do you want?'

'Why do you want to get this item?'

Grovyle expected Mimikyu to step down after this last demand, but it seemingly got him more excited. 'I want to get this as a gift for my dad. He's been quite stressed recently, my uncle has been getting on his nerves it seems. Just don't spoil the surprise for him, please!'

He still found it difficult to trust this child, but he was just that, a child, one that's trying to help his dad. This and the bonuses of having explorer equipment were enough for him to be convinced. 'Alright kid, just point the way and I'll dig.'

Mimikyu brightened up and jumped. 'YAY! Thank you sir!' He then took out a map and looked at it. 'Alright, the item should be… right there!' He then pointed towards a small mount beneath one of the bigger trees.

'Now that is some luck…' Grovyle said. 'Alright, let's do this.'

He proceeded to walk over to the mound and used the move dig. It was never easy to see beneath a whole heap of dirt, but the feeling of metal gave away the treasure's location. With one powerful jank, Grovyle took the box back to the surface.

After regaining his breath he turned to the already unlocked container. 'So… this is it?'

The small ghost looked towards his gecko friend. 'I hope so…' He then walked to the box and opened it. He then grabbed the contents of the box, revealing it to be a black and red veil, with a golden outline.

It looked like some weird cosmetic, but upon closer inspection Grovyle managed to recognise it. 'Wait a minute. Is that a Nether Veil? Why do you want something that's only useful on a Giratina?'

The ghost was a bit confused, before realising the silly mistake he made. 'Oh! Yeah my dad is Giratina. I forgot to mention that. Sorry...'

Grovyle was perplexed, but he cast those doubts and questions aside. He helped the kid, now it was Mimikyu's turn to help him. 'Alright then. How about your end of the deal.'

The Mimikyu nodded intensely. 'Of course! Of course! Here you go.'

And with that, he took out and gave Grovyle a Wonder Map, Treasure Bag, and an unsigned Exploration Badge. 'This is one of better maps of the Green continent. It's been completely mapped out. I hope this helps you sir.'

Grovyle nodded. 'I'm certain it will, thanks kid.'

Mimikyu gave one last smile, before grabbing the Nether Veil and opening a portal to what Grovyle assumes is the Distortion Realm. Now he was all alone once again. He decided to look on his map to see where he was. 'I'm not that far away from Treeshroud forest, I could probably make it there tomorrow…'

And with that, Grovyle set out to complete his mission. He would look for his friend, but he made him a promise…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank Team Ion for their help in proofreading my story. Second opinions help make my story much better.


	4. Our First Fetch Quest

'HEY! HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!'

Tristian was quickly ripped out of his sleep by an ear splitting wakeup call. 'Ugh! M-my head is pounding!' He looked up from his bed to see who nearly deafened him and saw Loudred acting like a living alarm clock. 'Loudred? Why are you trying to destroy my eardrums!'

His new partner wasn't dealing well with the sudden wake up either. 'M-my poor ears...'

Loudred just looked at the two begrudgingly . 'HEY! It's not my fault that you two slept in! If you're late for our morning briefing, you'll be SORRY! So MOVE it! Guildmaster Wigglytuff has got a BIG temper. If you make him lose it...' Loudred looked away, recalling some bad memories, before turning back to face the recruits. 'YOWEEE! That would be one very scary scene! I've got goosebumps just thinking about it! YEESH!'

Rachel was still not fully awake. 'Wait, what's goi…' But then she took a moment to look around herself. When her mind was done processing the interior of their guild room, it all came back to her like a lightning bolt hitting a tower. 'Waaaah! We overslept!'

Loudred almost rolled his eyes in response. 'That's what I've been SAYING! Let's move it before we ALL get in trouble!'

'Oh... OH! Oh no! We have to get there now!' Tristian said as he started to sprint out of the room, shortly followed by Loudred and Rachel.

The Guild was seemingly about to begin when the three sprinted into the room. 'Are we too late?' Rachel asked, having to take a second to catch her breath.

'Almost.' Chatot said condescendingly before turning to the one who woke the recruits up. 'Thank you Loudred.'

Loudred nodded and everyone moved into place. 'Everyone seems to be present. Very well. Let us conduct our morning address.' Chatot said as he finished with his headcount.

He turned to the Guildmaster's room to get the final attendant to show up. 'Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance and we're waiting for you to address the crew.'

Wigglytuff walked out of his chamber and stood in front of the entire guild… still fast asleep.

While the Guildmaster was giving his address of snores, the crew were quietly gossiping.

'Psst...! Guildmaster Wigglytuff never ceases to amaze me!' One of them said.

'Yup, looks like he's wide awake.' Another said.

After a little bit Chatot nodded to the Guildmaster. 'Thank you, sir! We all value your... words of wisdom!' He said, pretending the Guildmaster did something useful. 'OK, Pokemon! Take our Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart!'

He then turned back to face the guild members. 'Finally, let's not forget our morning cheers! All together now!'

Then everyone, except Rachel and Tristian, stood up straight (if possible), and started to chant. 'A one, a two… a one-two-three!'

'ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK!'

'TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY!'

'THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!'

'Okay Pokémon! Get to work!' Chatot said after the morning cheers were completed.

With that, the apprentices disassembled and got to work, leaving Rachel and Tristian standing there.

After a bit of silence Chatot caught wind of the recruits' lack of action. 'Ah yes, you two. Could you please follow me?'

The two of them immediately followed Chatot up to the second floor.

'You're just beginners. We'll have you start off with this assignment.' Chatot began, walking over to one of the boards. 'This is the Job Bulletin Board. Pokémon from various regions post job requests here.'

'Now, before we get started,' He said, turning back to the duo. 'I need to know how much you two know about Mystery dungeons.'

Without any hesitation, Tristian decided to go first. 'I know that Mystery dungeons change in layout every time you enter one. The only way to leave is by using either a badge or an escape orb, or by just reaching the exit. _Oh_ , and the dungeons are filled with clones that want to kill you.'

Chatot nodded. 'Very well, and what do you know?' He said as he looked towards Rachel.

Rachel took a deep breath before shaking answering Chatot. 'Well, I know that every time you go into a Mystery dungeon, the contents and treasures inside it change.'

'Well! You're quite informed, aren't you!' Chatot said. 'That's good to hear, but I guess you don't know everything. We'll get to that, but first I'll give you your first job.'

With that, Chatot hopped over to the Bulletin board and started to sift through the jobs.

'Not that one… that one's too harsh… that's not going to cut it… Ah! There it is.'

He then turned around and handed the paper over to Rachel. 'I think this one would be a good start.'

_Hello! My name is Spoink!_

_An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl! That pearl is life itself... to me! I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place on top of my head!_

_But I've heard my pearl has been sighted! It's said to be on a rocky steep cliff. But this bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my pearl?_

_I beg for your help, exploration team members!_

_\- From Spoink_

After Rachel read the note out loud, she was silent for a moment before nodding. 'Yeah, I think that should work.'

Tristian was less than pleased with this however. 'But it's literally asking us to fetch something someone lost. That's not what I had in mind when I joined!'

'Hush!' Chatot said, giving Tristian a stern look. 'What kind of expectations did you have when you joined the Guild!?'

He wanted to talk back to Chatot, but Rachel decided to interrupt it with a question. 'So, about that new information?'

Chatot calmed down a bit and nodded. 'Yes, there's a thing you should know about Explorer Badges. In the event that one of your teammates is knocked out in a dungeon, you should use these as soon as possible to get out of the dungeon. If you are the last member of your team then you should use it on yourself too. Do be warned that it won't take everything you have in your Treasure Bag with you, so do be careful.'

'So, do you both understand?'

Rachel gave a short nod, and Tristian gave a somewhat disappointed confirmation.

Chatot gave a nod. 'Then I suggest you get on with the job!'

* * *

After getting some food from town Rachel had returned to Tristian at the crossroads between Treasure Town, the guild, and the beach.

She walked up to Tristian and handed him an apple. 'I don't know what type of food you like, so I decided that an apple should be a safe bet.'

Tristian looked up at the presented breakfast and grabbed it. 'Well, I don't have anything against apples, I know that much .'

The two started to walk towards their intended destination of Drenched Bluff, where the pearl was last seen.

Along the track it was hard for Rachel to not notice Tristian's mood, he was looking down for most of the trip and was pretty aggressive with each step he took. Rachel would rather not go into a dungeon with someone who was preoccupied with being angry.

'Hey, is everything alright?'

Tristian glanced up briefly before giving a response. 'Why do you ask?'

'Because it's kinda important that we are coordinated when we go into a dungeon. Trust and all that.'

Tristian simply groaned and continued walking.

'This isn't going to end well...' Rachel mumbled to herself.

* * *

After half an hour of walking, Team Lightbringers had reached Drenched Bluff. The entrance into the dungeon was massive and covered with moss.

'Aight, we're here,' Rachel said. 'I don't know much about this dungeon, but I do know that it's filled with water types, so your electric attacks should help us a lot here.'

And moments after saying that, she froze as she remembered something. 'Ah fek!'

Tristian cocked his head. 'What's wrong?'

'We forgot to look into the moves you have!' She explained in a panic. 'That's okay, we can come back here later when…'

Rachel was half through her sentence before she realised that Tristian had walked past her towards the dungeon. 'What are you doing! We need to know what you can do!'

He rolled his eyes in response. 'The last dungeon was also filled with water types right? This won't be any different.'

Before Rachel could counter his argument, he had already entered the dungeon. She begrudgingly followed him into Drenched Bluff.

**Drenched Bluff B1F**

As she had predicted, the inside of Drenched Bluff was damp, wet, and filled with multiple bodies of water. Even the sky tinted floor was covered with small puddles. Rachel was thankful that water wasn't as dangerous to her, unlike for some other Pokémon.

'So, Tristian,' she said to get his attention. 'I think it's a good idea if we discuss how we'll tackle this dungeon. I think we should take it slow, and make sure to scout out our surroundings for treasures and Spoink's pearl.'

Tristian violently shook his head. 'Nah, I think we should bolt for the stairs, and get this over with as soon as possible.'

'Why? If we do it my way then we might find some goodies along the road, which could help us if we're ever in a pinch.'

'I'm just saying that the longer we dawdle, the more clones can gang up on us. Let's get moving.' He said resolutely.

Tristian quickly took the role of leader and started speed walking through the hallways, with Rachel following from behind looking out for treasures and foes alike.

The monotony of walking was interrupted by them stumbling into a sleeping Lileep, which quickly woke up. It tried Wrapping Tristian to the spot, making him unable to run away. And because he was caught off guard, the Lileep succeeded.

Rachel acted quickly, using an Ember to scorch the walking lily and causing it to lose balance. Tristian used this opportunity to get back at it for the prior assault. He attacked immediately, after images showing where he once stood, and the Lileep faded into a combination of green and brown clouds.

'And that's why you look to both sides before crossing a road.' Rachel smugly said after a while.

'Leave the jokes for later, we have places to be.' Tristian said, a tad bit annoyed.

Rachel gave a small, reluctant nod, and the two continued onwards.

* * *

Somewhere in the middle of a dense, foggy forest, soft, rhythmic ticking sounds are heard all around the area. The bushes shake as a Houndoom gets deeper into the forest, something watching it with each step it takes.

The Houndoom looks around herself in a hurry, did she just hear howling, or was that just her imagination? She decided it was the latter and continued onward.

The closer to the centre she got, the heavier the feeling of unease became. It was becoming impossible to deny that something was indeed following her, and the howling was only getting clearer.

The fog set in, and her view was reduced to nothing. She tried to use her fire to ward of her assailant, but it was useless in the thick mist. She got overpowered and then found herself back at the entrance to Treeshroud Forest.

'This forest is cursed…' She mumbled to herself before running away.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the forest, the fog was starting to dissipate, making the form of two dogs visible.

'That went easier than expected.' The magenta one said.

'You always manage to be surprised by that. No one can see through our mystical mist.' The cyan one replied.

The magenta one sighed. 'I understand that they need someone to guard this artefact, and we don't have anywhere else to go to at the moment, but it doesn't change the fact that this job is boring.'

'Zamazenta, I understand what you're saying, but this is the third time that you've complained about it today.'

'Well Zacian, I can't help but feel homesick. We are so far away from home…' Zamazenta lamented.

'…A home that's now in ruins.' Zacian finished, before sighing. 'Look, Eternatus has already promised that they'd help in the reconstruction of our home. It will just take a while, that's all.'

Zamazenta huffed in frustration, causing the warrior to sigh in defeat. 'Also, you haven't heard this from me, but it seems time is getting unstable.'

His ears perked up as if to see if he just misheard something. 'It is?'

Zacian nodded. 'It indeed is, and it might get worse if we fail at our job.'

Zamazenta was quiet for a moment, before nodding. 'Alright, I'll try to complain a little bit less then.' He said with a grin.

'As long as you try, eh?' Zacian responded before they split up again. They had a job to do.

* * *

**Drenched Bluff B5F**

'Can we please just slow down! You haven't even given me the time to check if this Oran Berry is fake.' Rachel said as she panted, getting exhausted from the constant sprinting.

'We'll find out if it's fake or not when one of us eats it. Now quit whining, The stairs are right there.' Tristian said coldly

'You know what? No.' Rachel said as she stopped dead in her tracks. 'I won't stop complaining, since you've been whining ever since we headed off to Drenched Bluff! What is the matter with you?'

Tristian stopped to look at Rachel with building frustration. 'You want to know what the matter is? Well, I don't know how you could've missed it, but I wasn't exactly thinking that joining a exploration guild would mean we would just fetch shit people lost!'

'And do you have any idea why that is!?' Rachel asked. 'Please don't tell me that you thought that they would send us to some unexplored dungeon right of the get go. We are merely recruits and would've been slaughtered if that were to happen.'

Tristian started to unleash a few sparks. 'Really? You keep saying that, and I've yet to see proof of the contrary. We've been getting through these dungeons with relative ease, yet you say they are life threateningly dangerous?'

'Beginners luck, ever heard of it!?' Rachel screamed. 'You are overestimating yourself way too much.'

'No, you're underestimating us!' Tristian barked back. 'These dungeons are a piece of cake!'

'Since when was there a "us" in all of this? All you've been doing is boss me around, and then I have to save your behind whenever you run straight into an ambush because you don't focus. ' Rachel said without a second thought.

Tristian fell silent for a moment. 'So that's how it is huh? I guess joining this guild was a mistake.' He started to walk to the stairs as Rachel realised what she just said.

'…Wait I…' She started, but the rest of the words wouldn't form. She soon enough followed Tristian up the stairs.

**Drenched Bluff B6F**

Rachel had to sprint a small bit before catching up with her disgruntled partner. 'Tristian… I didn't mean it like th-'

But he didn't allow her to finish. 'No, I think you made pretty clear what you think. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a fetch quest to do.'

He turned to leave, but then they heard a cry for help, which took the both of them by surprise.

'Someone's in danger!' Rachel said as Tristian stood still. 'What are you doing?' she asked Tristian. 'Someone needs our help now! We can't afford to stand still.'

Before Tristian could say a thing Rachel had bolted into the direction of the cries, leaving him alone.

He wanted to shrug, say "Ain't my problem", and leave the dungeon. But he couldn't. He started to feel something that he had only felt while escaping Beach Cave with Rachel. A thrill for danger and adventure.

'I can't possibly go back on my word.' He tried to argue to himself, but it barely worked. 'Fek it.' He said as he started heading down the path Rachel was taking.

When he entered the room, he stopped in awe of the size. It was the largest room in the entire dungeon, with a big lake in the middle of the room. In the middle of the lake was a small isle, where the endangered Pokémon, a Vaporeon resided. Rachel was standing at the edge of the river, wondering what to do. She was taken out of her thoughts however as she saw Tristian now standing next to her, observing the situation.

'What are you doing here? I thought you would've le-'

'What do we do? How can we help them?' Tristian interrupted, the time for arguing being over.

Rachel was taken aback for a moment before nodding. 'It seems our friend over there seems to be deadly afraid of water. He's refusing to even touch the stuff.'

'Then how did he get there?' Tristian asked confused, correctly assuming that the Vaporeon should be able to swim.

'He won't say how.' Rachel explained. 'I think we should help him first before pushing for answers.'

Tristian nodded. 'Alright, important question Rachel.'

'Sure, go ahead.'

'Can you swim?'

Rachel was a bit flustered. 'Eeeh, sorta? I know how to keep my head up above the water and how to move myself forward in water.'

'Then I hope you like swimming.' Tristian said with a small grin. 'How long will it take you?'

'A few minutes to get there. The distance isn't that far.'

'Then start going! I'll keep an eye out for clones.' Tristian said.

She didn't need to be told twice, as she immediately took a small leap into the water and started pedaling towards the Vaporeon.

Soon enough she had arrived on the isle. 'Don't worry sir, as help has arrived!' Rachel announced triumphantly.

The Vaporeon let out an awkward chuckle. 'R-really? Wow, you guys do indeed respond quickly to SOS.'

'But we didn't… You know what, never mind. How do I help you get off this small rock? Can you swim?' She asked.

Vaporeon had a mortified expression upon the mention of the word "swim". 'Please don't let the water touch me! I don't want to be reduced to water molecules!'

Rachel could barely believe what she just heard. 'Reduced to… water molecules? What?'

'D-dad found out through research t-that the cell structure of Vaporeon's are v-very similar to water molecules.' Vaporeon explained in a panic.

Rachel cocked her head. 'And that's important because?'

'What if I get turned into a puddle and stay like that forever!' Vaporeon almost screamed.

Rachel had a hard time believing that this was really happening. A water type that is deadly afraid of water. She took a deep breath as she prepared to break the news to him. 'Friend, that is ridiculous.'

'NO!' The Vaporeon screamed. 'I'm surrounded by my death and unable to return home.' He was starting to tear up at that fact.

Rachel sighed and wanted to try another approach, but then clouds were starting to form on the isle. The clouds became purple, blue, brown, and green as they started to materialize into clones. And with that an Anorith, Shellos and Chingling were now sharing the isle with the two Mons.

'There's no more time.' Rachel said in a hurry, starting to drag the Vaporeon to the shore. 'You'll have to swim.'

'NO!' Vaporeon cried out in resistance.

'You'll be fine!' Rachel said as they got closer to the shore. 'If you don't try it, you'll die on this small rock instead. Do you really want that.'

'But I-'

'I promise you'll be fine. So please?' Rachel said sincerely.

Vaporeon looked to Rachel, then to their approaching foes, and then back to her. He swallowed. 'A… alright then. I trust you.'

Vaporeon walked over to the shore. He took a deep breath, and put a paw into the water. As he opened his eyes expecting his paw to be gone, he instead saw his paw standing inside the water.

Rachel gave a smile. 'I told you it would be fine. Can you maybe help me with the swimming part? I ain't a natural when it comes to that.'

'Oh uh, sure.' Vaporeon responded, and with Rachel on back he fully entered the water. 'Wow! This is amazing! I was really scared of this?'

Rachel laughed. 'You really were just a fish out of wa-'

Rachel was cut off by a precise blast from the Shellos' Water Gun. The Shellos had quickly gone into the water to catch up with its targets while Vaporeon was having confidence training. Vapereon started to panic and quickly swam to the other side as Rachel was trying to stay afloat.

Vaporeon got out of the water and sprinted to Tristian's side, who was in complete panic. 'Oh dear Arceus. Whatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoido?'

Tristian then stopped for a moment 'That's so stupid, but it might work.' He thought to himself. He turned to Vaporeon. 'I'm going to give the water a shock, after that, I want you to get Rachel to safety. Can you do that?'

Vaporeon looked doubtful about his plan. 'But what if she gets mortally injured or…'

'There's no time for thinking!' Tristian exclaimed to him. 'I'm going to zap, so get ready.'

'God, I hope this works.' He thought to himself moments before releasing a Thunder Shock into the water, the electric current causing Rachel to become paralysed and the Shellos to disappear into blue clouds.

Vaporeon quickly jumped into the water again and swam straight to the sinking Vulpix. Soon enough she was on land again.

'Are you alright Rachel?' Tristian asked.

'Hurt… but could be worse.' She said with a smile, which caused her more pain.

Tristian didn't like how hurt she was. In this state he might have to carry her to the end of the dungeon. But then he put his paw to his head. 'Wait, we have an Oran Berry, right?'

'…Yeah.' Rachel muttered.

Tristian started digging through the bag for the Berry, and pulled it out. He immediately went to give it to Rachel, but then. 'Wait, didn't you mention something about fakes?'

She grinned. 'The ones with the white stumps… are fake.' She said pained, but with some satisfaction.

Tristian handed over the Oran Berry to Rachel after deeming it to be "not fake". 'Are you going to be okay now?' He asked.

Rachel swallowed the remainder of the berry and proceeded to carefully get up again. 'I will be fine now.' She said as she got on all fours. After some silence she sighed, 'Thanks Tristian. I don't know how this would've ended if you weren't there.'

'It's… no problem.' He said with some hesitation.

She then grinned at him 'But don't you dare think that your points are now valid. They still make no sense.'

Tristian looked about ready to defend his points to the death, but then he paused for a moment, and then slowly nodded. 'I guess I was getting too ahead of myself eh? Sorry for that.'

Rachel was first surprised, but then became glad. 'I hold nothing against you. Having amnesia doesn't help when making big decisions, now does it.'

'Yeah, note to self, read the ToS before applying to a guild.'

'What is a ToS?' Rachel asked.

'No clue.' Tristian admitted.

'Uhum,' Vaporeon began, getting their attention. 'I don't want to ruin the moment, but I really should be getting out of here.'

Tristian nodded. 'Where almost at the end anyway, right? So let's all stick together and _not_ sprint into our demise, kay?'

'Why are you telling us that?' Rachel asked.

'Oh, no I was talking to myself.' Tristian said, a smile forming on his face.

* * *

The three of them soon returned back to the guild with Spoink's pearl in their possession. There they found Chatot and Spoink waiting for them at the Job Bulletin Board.

'Th-thank you!' Spoink exclaimed upon being given back his pearl. 'That pearl must be propped on my head, you see. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there!'

'So that pearl acts as some kind of counterbalance?' Tristian asked.

Spoink nodded 'Pretty much. Without it I was boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I'm covered in dents and bumps. But thanks to you, that long nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!'

Spoink bounced over to Tristian and gave them an assortment of items and also a small bag filled with Poké. He immediately handed the items over to Rachel. 'We got a Protein, a Calcium, an Iron, and…' She fell silent as she looked into the small bag. '…2.000 Poké!' She announced excitedly.

'That is a lot, right?' Tristian asked hopeful.

Spoink smiled at Tristian's excitement. 'Yes it is, although that's nothing compared to my pearl's value! Farewell!'

As Spoink left Vaporeon started to approach the duo. 'I guess it's my turn to thank you two.' He let out a weak chuckle. 'I don't know what would've happened if you didn't get there in time.'

Rachel smiled. 'It's no problem, I'm glad we were just there to begin with.'

'And here I thought nothing would happen on this "fetch quest".' Tristian said with a laugh.

Then Vaporeon got a difficult look on his face. 'I don't have anything on me to repay you two, but I'm certain my dad will have something for you if you drop by tomorrow!'

Rachel looked sold on the prospect. 'Does that sound good Tristian?' She asked.

He gave a quick nod. 'Sure! Though I don't know where to go to find you.'

'I'll help with that, I've lived here for a month already, so I know my way around town.' Rachel said.

'Then that's settled, see you tomorrow!'

Vaporeon nodded, said 'Thanks again!', and proceeded to exit the guild.

Tristian immediately turned to Rachel with pure excitement. 'We're rich, Rachel! We got rich just like that!'

Rachel looked a bit difficult. 'Uhh… Tristian. I don't want to burst your bubble, but…'

'Well done, team!' Chatot interrupted. 'Not only did you complete your task, but you also saved Vaporeon despite having no prior knowledge of his whereabouts. Although that last part could partially be chalked up to luck.'

He then walked over to Rachel. 'Now hand that money over, if you please!' He requested.

'Huh!?' Tristian exclaimed in surprise.

Rachel sighed. 'Very well.' She said a bit defeated as she handed over the bag.

Tristian was starting to get pissed again. 'What's going on here?'

Chatot looked ready to explain, but after one glance at the shocked Shinx he decided to alter his explanation a bit for the amnesic Shinx. 'Allow me to explain that with a question. How are you two paying for your membership to this guild?'

'Uhhh...'

'Exactly!' Chatot said as Tristian failed to answer. 'One of the rules of the guild is that the share gets split 1 to 9, with the majority going to the guild (and the Guildmaster). But you are allowed to keep any items you get from dungeons or from jobs. Do you understand Shinx?'

Tristian was quiet for a moment, before giving a slow nod. 'I guess…'

Chatot looked delighted from the answer. 'Good! And here's your share for the job.' He said as he handed team Lightbringers their share of 200 Poké.

After a bit of awkward staring, Chatot cleared his throat. 'You two are done for today, so just… do something I guess. Just don't break any rules while doing so, got that?'

The two nodded, and the rest of the day passed by like it was nothing.

* * *

Later that night Rachel was unable to fall asleep. She rolled over to face Tristian to see if he was faring any better in the objective of falling asleep.

'Ey? Are you awake?' She asked quietly.

'Myeh.' Tristian mumbled.

Rachel sighed. 'Wasn't today hectic? So much happened! But I'm relieved that our first job was a success.'

'It was great.' Tristian answered. '…except for that whole 1 to 9 split. That stung a lot.'

'Even I knew that beforehand, and it still hurt a bit.' Rachel musingly admitted. She started to think about the rest of the day and got a more concerned expression. 'Hey Tristian, what was it that made you so angry?'

Ignoring the urge to defend the undefendable, he sighed and turned to face his partner. 'I… honestly didn't like the prospect of just reclaiming things that people had lost. It seemed boring and just monotonous.'

'Can't blame you for assuming that.' Rachel laughed. 'Anything else?'

'I… I guess I just didn't understand what the job of an explorer would entail,' Tristian admitted. 'I just don't like wasting time or going slow.'

'Wow, you discovered your flaw. Congrats!' Rachel sarcastically said.

'Ey, now it sounds like a personal attack.' Tristian jokingly said.

Rachel laughed before sighing. 'Just try to keep that in mind, kay? Taking things slow can be beneficial to you.'

'I will'

After some silence Tristian turned to Rachel again. 'You want to know why I came back at the last second after our disagreement in Drenched Bluff?'

Rachel let out an amused sigh. 'It was far from the last second, but sure. Go right ahead.'

Tristian was ready to talk, but couldn't find the words.

'What's the matter?' Rachel asked. 'Shinx got your tongue?'

Tristian gave an awkward laugh. 'I don't know how to put it without sounding very, well, forced and cliche.'

'Then how about you tell me tomorrow? You'll probably have a better way to put it then.' Rachel said.

'I… yawn… guess you're right. Goodnight Rachel.'

'Goodnight Tristian.'

* * *

Somewhere else Grovyle has been traveling the entire day to reach Treeshroud Forest. He now found himself near the entrance, but also heavily exhausted from the journey. Before going into the dungeon he decided to take a small rest against one of the big trees surrounding the dungeon.

He has been on his guard ever since he got here, so he decided to be a bit more relaxed for now. He had to keep that composure for later.

It was then that he could hear a female voice farther behind him.

'I'm telling you, if your boss doesn't give me any more details that I won't go in again!'

Grovyle sneakily peaked his head around the tree to see what the commotion was about. He was greeted by the view of a Houndoom talking to a Gastly. Around them was some equipment and a campfire.

The Gastly was getting frustrated at the Houndoom. 'For the umpteenth time, you must refer to him as Lord!'

The Houndoom merely rolled her eyes at the request as the Gastly continued. 'Furthermore, we won't give you any more details aside from what you've already been told. Will you know please resume your quest?'

Houndoom answered by snarling at the ghost. 'Tell your "lord" that he can stick it where the sun doesn't shine! We're done here.'

The Gastly tried to contain its anger. 'Lord Phoenix will hear of this! Such betrayals do not go unpunished!'

And with that the ghost type left. With the situation over, Grovyle decided to resume his cooling down.

'So, how did you like the performance?' the Houndoom said. Grovyle had been noticed by the Houndoom, and without any quick way out he decided to just confront the fire type.

He sighed, stood up and walked from behind the tree. 'Eh, it lacked setup.'

Houndoom laughed and motioned for Grovyle to join her at the fire. 'So, what are you doing all the way in the middle of nowhere?' She asked.

'I'm exploring Mystery dungeons.' Grovyle said. 'And you?'

'I was completing a retrieval mission for a wealthy client, but then it failed at the very last second.'

' _The very end… does that mean that Treeshroud Forest has a guardian?'_ Grovyle thought to himself. He needed to find out more. 'Need someone to vent to?' Grovyle offered to Houndoom.

She looked into the fire with contemplation. 'They said that they would come and… no, you know what? Fuck it, sure.' She finally answered.

Grovyle got comfortable as Houndoom started her tale. 'So, I was hired by this "Lord Pheonix" guy to retrieve an artefact from Treeshroud Forest. They wouldn't tell me what it was or how to get, just that there was something and that a nice amount of Poké was waiting for me if I succeeded.'

Grovyle patiently nodded and continued listening.

'What they didn't bother to tell me was that the Forest was inhabited by some very powerful clones. That wretched place cost me 5 Reviver Seeds! But that was not the worst part…' She paused for a moment and turned to Grovyle. 'Still listening?'

'I am, don't worry.' He reassured her.

'You want to know what the worst part of all of this is? At the end, I was almost there, and then a thick mist started to form all around me.'

'How?' Grovyle asked.

'I have no idea! There were some howls, which strengthened the mist I think, and then something ran straight into me. Before I knew it I was outside the dungeon again! Whatever it was, it pushed me straight into the exit and out of the dungeon!'

Houndoom took a breath to calm herself down. 'This was the worst job I've ever agreed to. I knew the money was too good to be true…'

Grovyle gave a small chuckle. 'I get that. One time when I was exploring a dungeon, I found a bunch of Reviver Seeds, but the local Clones Roared me straight down the stairs, making me lose that treasure trove of Seeds.'

'Wow.' Houndoom said. 'That sucks.'

Grovyle waved his hand. 'Such things happen. Are you better?'

'Much better.' She admitted. 'I have to leave now, I refuse to stay here another second. Thanks for listening…'

'Grovyle, and you are?'

'Marberus…'

After one last exchange of looks, Marberus nodded, proceeded to grab her stuff, and leave.

After she left Grovyle started to ponder to himself. 'Alright, so there was a sudden mist, and there was some howling. Not only that, but the howling strengthened the mist…'

He then snapped his fingers. 'I got it! Thank Arceus I "Wasted" all that spare time reading up on Legendary Pokémon. I think I know how to do this successfully…'

Grovyle got his bag, and headed into Treeshroud Forest, his mission was about to begin in earnest…

* * *

_Team Galactic Time & Space Scanner  
Audio log_

* * *

_'How is the mission going?'_

_'We don't know sir. Our requests for info have been met with silence!'_

_'Keep trying! I will not let our objective be in vain.'_

_'Understood master Cyrus!'_

* * *

_End log_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinx is very hasty, isn't he?
> 
> I want to thank Navarchu, TheHermitSpycrab, and Le loempia for beta reading this chapter. The help is appreciated.


	5. A Treasure Town Welcome

The next day, the morning cheers had passed, and team Lightbringers were once again standing in their place, looking around aimlessly, and their ears still ringing from Loudred's wake up call. After a few seconds, Chatot noticed the two and asked them to follow him up the ladder.

When they got to the second floor, Chatot hopped to the other board in the room. 'Today, we'll have you do a job listed on this side.' He said pointing to the board. 'Take a closer look, if you will.'

Upon closer inspection of the board, the two noticed a lot of Pokémon on the board, all with weird symbols next to them that Tristian couldn't make out.

Rachel, on the other hand, was able to do that. 'So these are outlaws, right?'

Chatot gave a small nod in response. 'Yes, that is indeed what they are. They're all shady characters, and they're wanted for committing crimes. Because of that, there are bounties on their heads. In other words, there is a reward if you capture one.'

'Wait a minute, why do Exploration Teams catch outlaws?' Tristian asked inquisitively.

'That's a long story, and not one for today.' Chatot answered. 'So, these outlaws are ranked, with F being the easiest, and S being the most difficult. Since you two are new, I would suggest tackling an F-ranked outlaw first.'

'But… how strong is an F-ranked outlaw? I have nothing to compare it to.' Tristian questioned.

Chatot laughed. 'You worry too much about that, Shinx.' He calmed down and cleared his throat. 'But, you might want to prepare for that, so I will have someone give you a tour of the facilities.'

With that, Chatot turned to the ladder and called for Bidoof to come over. 'Huff-puff-huff... You called?' He answered Chatot's call.

'Bidoof, I need you to give our recruits a tour around Treasure Town.' Chatot ordered.

'Yes sirree!' Bidoof immediately replied. 'By golly, I'll do just that! Yup yup!'

Chatot gave him a nod and turned to face the recruits. 'I believe you two are already familiar with Bidoof, and the rest of the guild for that matter, so I trust that you two will be able to follow his lead. Off you go!'

And with that, Chatot headed back down the ladder.

'So,' Bidoof began as he turned to the Vulpix and Shinx. 'Are you two ready to go?'

'Pretty much.' Rachel answered.

'Then let's go!' Tristian announced as he sprinted up the ladder.

Rachel sighed. 'Tristian is quite…'

'Energetic?' Bidoof responded.

Rachel gave him a small nod.

* * *

The trio found themselves standing near the edge of Treasure Town. From here, they could see the multiple tents dotted around the town. Some were normal tents, while others had a Pokémon on the top of them. If one were to describe them with a single word, it would be "Cozy".

'So…' Tristian began after a bit of silence. 'Where do we start?'

That question made a smile form on Rachel's face. 'Well, I suggest getting you a bank licence first, then showing you the shops on the left side of the river, after which we…'

'Golly Rachel, you certainly have things planned out.' Bidoof interjected.

'Yeah, it's always handy to be prepared as an explorer, or that's what I've read, at least.' She responded.

Rachel was about to continue her ramblings until a voice called out to them.

'Hey! I think you need to be here!'

Turning their attention towards the source of the voice, they found that it was Robert who flagged them down. The three walked over to the bank.

'So, the lost Shinx here needs a licence, right?' The Duskull asked.

'Yup!' Rachel confirmed. 'Can you do that?'

The Duskull had a mischievous look on him before turning around to grab something behind him. When he turned around, he was holding a small piece of paper. 'All I need you to do is to put your paw on this paper here, and your account will be validated.'

'And there are no strings attached?' Tristian asked cautiously.

'Only your soul.' Robert said, before laughing maniacally. Eventually, he calmed down and cleared his throat.

'I'm just joking, but just remember that it wouldn't be in my interest to do such a thing.' He said, eyeballing Rachel.

Tristian nodded and stepped on the paper that was laid down in front of him. When he removed his paw, a print of it was left on it.

'And that's about it.' Robert said. 'Have a good day.'

'Wait, that's it?' Tristian asked, perplexed. He looked to Rachel for answers only to see her laughing.

'Yup! It isn't that hard.' She said between her laughter. 'Really important details I'll tell you when they are important. Now, let's go!'

With that, Rachel travelled down the road to the next shop, with Bidoof following closely behind. Tristian was about to follow before he felt the Ghost-type banker poking his back.

'Consider this a favour, because otherwise she would have yapped your ears off about every minute detail of her plan.' The Duskull said.

Tristian simply nodded and went to catch up with the others.

* * *

'The dojo will rise again…' Monaco muttered to himself as he carried some tools to his dojo, exhausted from the constant repairs he had to do.

It had been a week since his dojo collapsed, and since then he has been busy trying to repair it. He would have gone to get more supplies today, but the whole "Shinx from the sky" situation caused some delays.

But then, something caught his ear as a conversation wandered his way.

'-know that Volt has gone somewhere, but why is Chansey not here?' A male voice asked its peers.

'Sheesh, I'm afraid I don't know that. No siree.' Another voice said, who Monaco could discern must have come from Bidoof.

Monaco, curious about what was going on, decided to look around the corner. There, he saw the weird Shinx from 2 days ago, the sister of Treasure Town's banker, and Bidoof. 'Chansey had to leave town because her sister Clefable needed some help with finding some rare medicine.'

The Shinx cocked his head curiously. 'What for?'

'Oh, that's because Jolteon is busy with some type of experiment, trying to see if he can cure a Shadow Pokémon.' Rachel replied. 'So he asked them for help, most likely, sincethey are the most knowledgeable when it comes to all things medicine.'

'I see.' The Shinx answered before turning to look at the Dojo with intrigue. 'And what is this?'

'This is, or better said, was the Marowak Dojo.' Monaco told him. 'It has collapsed, but fret not! It will rise again.'

Rachel seemed to have an idea and turned to face her fellow guild members. 'Tristian, I think it's a good idea to go to the dojo when it's fixed, since it's the best place to get your Level up.'

Tristian gave a quick nod and faced Monaco. 'Are you okay with that?' He asked.

The question took Monaco by surprise, but he quickly regained his composure. 'O-of course! I will be certain to notify the guild when the dojo is operational again.'

The Shinx gave another nod in response and turned back to his partner. 'Alright then, what's the next stop?'

After an exchange between the three, the new team and Bidoof split up, with Bidoof going back to the guild and the other walking further into Treasure Town. Through this interaction, Monaco was motivated, determined to repair his treasured dojo. He will put his best efforts into repairing the dojo. He soon composed himself and went back to work, for the dojo will not rise on its own.

* * *

At this time, inside a big bastion, Zamazenta and Zacian, both wounded from a fierce battle, made their way to the middle of the building. There was an eerie sense of dread that filled the two, but they pressed on regardless.

Someone had to bring the bad news…

In the middle, they found the Creation dragon of Space, Palkia. She noticed her visitors but didn't turn to face them.

'WHY ARE YOU AWAY FROM YOUR POST?' She asked them in a stern tone.

'W-we are here to report on the current situation of Treeshroud Forest.' Zacian answered.

'WHY, DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?' Palkia asked, still not looking at the two.

'That's why w-we're here, Spatial dragon.' Zamazenta added.

'THEN GET TO THE POINT. UNLIKE MY BROTHER, I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF PATIENCE OR TIME TO SPARE.' Palkia said, getting agitated at their attempts of stalling.

Zacian felt his confidence vanish. He had to tell Palkia the truth. 'We… lost the Time Gear.'

She immediately turned around with fury and disappointment in her expression. It wasn't often that Palkia was this serious.

'YOU LOST IT?' She asked coldly.

'The i-intruder was fast, like they knew that we were there, waiting for them.' Zamazenta said with fear in his voice.

'DO YOU TWO REALISE HOW MANY PROBLEMS THIS COULD CAUSE?' She asked the two, her voice still not getting any louder.

'Y-yes…' Zacian said.

Palkia stared at the two in silence, before giving them a simple demand.

'SOUND THE CALL FOR ALL LEGENDARIES TO COME TO THE SPACIAL BASTION. WE NEED EVERYONE HERE IF WE WANT TO SOLVE THIS CRISIS.'

The two dogs didn't question her order and quickly headed back to sound the call. Alone again, Palkia let out a sigh of frustration. 'BROTHER… WHY DO YOU HAVE TO FALTER NOW?'

* * *

'And up next is the Kecleon Market. Here you can buy and sell stuff.' Rachel explained to Tristian as they walked towards it. 'They have a lot of items, from berries and apples to TM's and orbs.'

Rachel walked over and looked at the goods the Kecleon's had at the moment. Soon enough, she turned around, holding some items that Tristian couldn't make out immediately.

'So, what now?' Tristian asked.

She motioned Tristian to the building next to the market. 'Now we get you a registration at Gen's storage, so that you can store your items if you are ever carrying too much.'

'Well hello there!' Gen greeted the two as they arrived. 'It's great to see that both of you are fine after what happened two days ago.'

She immediately turned to Rachel. 'I was so worried when you did that. Who knows what could've happened?'

'I'm fine, you don't have to worry about that,' Rachel laughed, 'I actually came here to store a few things and get Tristian a registration.'

Gen gave the Shinx a cursory glance before nodding. 'Sure, let me grab some things.'

While she was busy, Tristian noticed something going on back at the Kecleon's stand. Two small water type Pokémon were handed two apples by the Kecleons and seemed to be on their way. However, the small one tripped and dropped his apple. Tristian thought he might help by picking up the apple and handing it to them, but in retrospect he found that a bit suspicious looking. Sure enough, the problem solved itself as the small Pokémon got up and grabbed the apple.

Tristian got brought back to reality as Gen handed him a paper that looked a lot like the one Robert gave him not too long ago. He did the same thing as before, and it was done.

'So, now that you have registered, you can use any Kangaskhan statue in the world to get access to your storage.' Gen explained.

Tristian gave a perplexed look. 'How does that work, magic?'

Gen seemed to ignore the question and gave the two a smile. 'Good luck with your dungeon diving!'

The two walked away to the last tent nearby, which seemed to be empty.

'Welp, seems like Xatu isn't here.' Rachel mumbled. 'I wonder what he's doing…'

'Why did she ignore my question?' Tristian suddenly asked her.

'That's just Gen. She's quite secretive about how those statues even work.' Rachel explained. 'Although, your guess of it being magic might as well be the conclusion, since I don't understand how they could work otherwise.' She humoured.

Tristian let out a chuckle. He might be right about that. However, his attention was then drawn to some tall buildings in the distance. He stared at them, intrigued. The leftmost building had a Clefable silhouette on top of it, and next to it was a building with a Magnezone silhouette, and the last building next to that had an Eevee silhouette.

Rachel noticed her partners leave from reality. 'Right, I guess I should explain those buildings, eh?'

'I would certainly appreciate it.' Tristian wittily responded.

Rachel began with the Clefable building. 'From left to right those are the hospital, the Magnezone police station, and the Library. I don't think I need to explain the first one, and I know for a fact that we'll be getting into touch with the second one later today. So that just leaves the Eeveelution Library.'

Rachel looked ready to continue her lesson in buildings, but then, one of their guildmates, Corphish, walked up to them.

'Hey, hey! Bidoof is wondering where you two are, so maybe you should pick up the pace, rookies, hey, hey?' Corphish said to them.

Rachel sighed and looked at her partner. 'I know you're getting tired of hearing it, but…'

'That's a story for another day?' Tristian finished.

'What I wanted to say was "those are the mysteries of this world".' Rachel taunted, 'But really though, we should get going.'

Tristian gave a nod and thanked Corphish for the reminder.

'It was no big deal, hey, hey.' He replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the middle of the ocean, a Legendary ground type was walking, with each step he took creating a new piece of land for him to stand on.

'THIS SUCKS. WHY MUST THE OCEAN EXIST?' Groudon muttered to himself.

As if to answer his question, bubbling appeared on the surface of the water, out of which came a Legendary water type.

'BECAUSE SCREW YOU, THAT'S WHY.' Kyogre answered, mocking the ground type.

With veins popping off in his head, Groudon snapped his head to his rival. 'YOU WANNA GO FISH FACE!?'

'I WOULDN'T MIND FLUSHING YOU AWAY!' Kyogre answered in response.

Before the two could continue their bickering, an all too familiar roar was heard across the sky, and the two looked up to find none other than Rayquaza.

'CAN YOU TWO DO THIS LATER?' The flying snake asked the two Legendary Pokémon. 'NOT ONLY DO I NOT WANT TO BREAK YOU TWO UP LIKE KINDERGARTENERS, BUT YOU TWO WOULD BE IN TROUBLE IF PALKIA FOUND OUT YOU WERE JUST WASTING TIME INSTEAD OF ANSWERING HER CALL.'

The two looked at each other before sighing in defeat. 'FINE.' Groudon relented. ' LET'S JUST GET GOING.'

'WHY DO YOU THINK THAT SPACE DRAGON WANTS US IN THE GRASS CONTINENT ANYWAY?' Kyogre wondered as the three of them continued onwards.

'I HAVE NO CLUE.' Rayquaza replied. 'MAYBE SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED, OR SHE WANTS TO PULL A PRANK ON EVERY LEGENDARY IN EXISTENCE.'

'MAYBE SHE WANTS TO MOCK YOU TWO FOR BEING DEFEATED BY SOME REGULAR POKEMON.' Kyogre answered in jest.

In response, the other two turned to him menacingly. 'MAKE ONE MORE COMMENT ABOUT THAT, AND I WILL HELP GROUDON TAKE YOU DOWN. GOT IT?' Rayquaza threatened in a sinister tone.

The rest of the trip was quiet.

* * *

Back in Treasure Town, a Drowzee was standing around, impatiently tapping his foot on the grass. 'Why is he taking so long? It's been 3 days, and he still hasn't arrived…'

He knew it wouldn't be long until someone else would try to take the treasure, he even suspected that his confidant would've taken the opportunity to take the treasure for himself.

He knew one thing for certain, waiting any longer would just increase the chances of him losing out.

Then, his opportunity arrived on a silver platter.

'Sir, are you alright?' An Azurill asked Drowzee.

'I'm fine.' He answered, not paying the child much attention. 'Just waiting for someone to bring me…'

'Your important item?' Marill made a guess.

Drowzee let out a small chuckle. 'I guess you could call it that.'

'We can understand that.' Marill said to him. 'We also lost something important to us.'

'Su-' Drowzee fell silent as he thought about it. The only reason he can't get the treasure is because he's too big. But Azurill is small enough to get it… 'What… did it look like?' He asked, repressing a grin.

Marill got a spark in his eyes. 'It's a Water Float, have you seen it by any chance?'

'Yes, I think I have.' Drowzee answered. 'I'll guide you to it if you want.'

Azurill cheered as Marill thanked him for his offer to help. He scratches his head and acts flushed. 'Please! It's nothing.'

'You don't want anything in return?' Marill asked.

Drowzee laughed and shook his head. 'Oh, please... I'd have to have a cold heart to ignore kids in need! I can't turn a blind eye! Let us be on our way to begin our search!'

After a cheer from the brothers, the three headed out towards Drowzee's treasure.

He bumped into some bystanders, almost tripping in the process. He quickly got his footing again and turned to face the two. 'Whoops! Excuse me.' He told the Shinx before turning away to catch up with the two kids.

'Is that Shinx blind or something?' He muttered to himself in frustration. He quickly pushed that question away and continued onward.

* * *

Tristian was completely confused. One moment he was talking with Rachel about how nice Drowzee is for helping the brothers for free, and then he sees some kind of vision of Drowzee cornering Azurill, with the latter screaming for help. When he came back to reality, Rachel was giving him a worried expression.

'Tristian! What happened? You seemed to have frozen up or something.' Rachel asked with concern filling her voice.

'I… I have no clue…' Tristian admitted. He tried to give an explanation of what he saw, understanding that the Vulpix would most likely not believe him.

'You're right, that does sound highly ridiculous.' She said after he was done. 'It could be true, I mean, you arrived via a portal in the sky, but we can't know if it's true…'

After some thinking, Tristian nodded in agreement. 'Yeah, maybe I just have the wildest imagination in existence, who knows. Not me, that's for certain.'

That last part caused Rachel to chuckle. 'C'mon, let's not keep Bidoof waiting.'

* * *

The two descended to the second floor of the Guild, where Bidoof was waiting for them. 'We're ready to go!' Tristian announced.

'Oh, yes sirree! I reckon you all are all ready! Let's pick ourselves a lawbreaker for you to find.' He said.

The three turned to the board. 'Let's go with one that's nearby.' Rachel suggested.

Bidoof then raised his paw to her. 'As your mentor, how about I do the choosing?'

Rachel relented and let Bidoof take a close look at the board. 'Let's pick…'

'Stand clear! Updating listings! Stand clear! Updating listings!'

Suddenly, a siren had gone off, and the board flipped around to the surprise of team Lightbringers.

'Is this the job Dugtrio has been assigned to?' Tristian asked.

'Yup!' Bidoof answered. 'He should be done any minute now.'

'Update completed! Stand Clear!' Dugtrio announced. And just like that, the board returned to its normal state.

'Yes sirree! The data is updated.' Bidoof said. 'The list of outlaws has been refreshed, so let's pick one.'

But before they could pick a gasp from Rachel caught their attention, seeing her staring at something in front of her. Bidoof and Tristian try to see what has frozen her, and it didn't take long for Tristian to realise why.

The poster had a picture of Drowzee in it.

Bidoof stood, dumbfounded over why this poster freaked those two out so much, so he asked what was wrong.

Rachel took a shuddering breath. 'That guy… that's the guy Azurill and Marill went with…'

'They could be in trouble!' Tristian screamed.

Bidoof had a closer look at the poster and saw that Drowzee was an E rank outlaw. He didn't want to go against Chatot's wishes, but if Drowzee was deceiving those kids…

'Looks like we have our target.' He said to the recruits. 'He won't get away with this, no sirree!'

The two partners immediately gave each other a nod, and Tristian turned to Bidoof. 'Where is he?'

* * *

'Mt. Bristle…' A Buizel said to himself, looking for that dungeon on his wonder map. 'They better not be pullin' my leg here, since such endeavours can end up being quite expensive.' The water type quietly fiddles with the hilt of his scimitar.

The mon looks at the clock in his room and was reminded that he left his client waiting for long enough.

That treasure will be his, or he won't be eating tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took long enough...
> 
> I want to thank a anonymous Beta Reader on Discord for well... beta reading this chapter.
> 
> No promises that I get more consistent with my uploads.


End file.
